Twenty Six to Sixteen
by hokkyokukou
Summary: "To my high-school self, how are you? Today, where I am now, everyone is gone from this world. Please. Fix the future for yourself. Watch them closely." It's a letter from the future, pleading and full of regrets. Tsuna's just an average boy at a not-so-average school with a definitely-not-average therapist, Reborn, and an above-average-at-clumsiness teacher, Dino. What can he do?
1. Letter

"Blog."

"Huh?"

"A blog. Keep one."

"W-why?"

"You're depressed. Keep a blog."

Tsuna stared at his therapist, not sure what to think. Reborn simply twirled his pen in his hand, keeping a cool gaze on Tsuna.

"I'm… depressed?"

"Yes. And very much so. You have no friends, you're no good, and you're depressed. Keep a blog."

"But… that's so lame… and who would read it?"

"I would," Reborn said flatly. "Keep a blog."

"But—"

Tsuna found himself swallowing his words and looking at the end of a very, very sharp pen. Had pens always been so pointy?

"Keep. A blog."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

That's what had started it all, Tsuna grumbled to himself. That's why he was in such a great mess. It was all Reborn's fault.

…Okay, not really, he admitted as he opened up his laptop and started a new post. It was his own fault, if he thought deep and hard about it. But, being Tsuna, he didn't like to think deep and hard about anything.

So, it was Reborn's fault.

It started with a letter from ten years in the future.

You see, on a day in spring, in his sixteenth year, Sawada Tsunayoshi received a rather detailed letter.

"…How did this get here?"

Readjusting his tie, Tsuna picked up the thick, battered envelope that was lying on his desk. It was thick and heavy, as if it contained many pieces of paper. He turned it over.

_From: Sawada Tsunayoshi._

"From… me? What? Why would I send a letter to myself?" Tsuna muttered. "I'm not _that_ depressed. Mom? Hey, Mom!"

Tsuna tumbled out his room, promptly tripping and falling down the stairs. "Mom!"

His mother, who was cooking in the kitchen, heard the noise and looked up. "Huh? Oh, Tsu-kun, you tripped again? How many times do I have to tell you to be careful?"

"Never mind that," Tsuna said hastily. "This letter. Where did it come from?"

"Oh, it came yesterday," Nana said, smiling. Maybe her rather solitary son had decided to get himself a fun penpal. The thought made her happy. "I forgot to give it to you, so I put it on your desk when you were sleeping. Why, is it something important?"

Tsuna looked down at the envelope again. "Uh, no. Just wondering. A-anyways, I'm late, so I'm going now!"

Grabbing a piece of toast, Tsuna dashed out the door, slipping on his shoes.

_'I'll read it later,_' he thought. _'I'm late now; Hibari-san's going to bite me to death.'_

Miraculously, he got to school and made it to his classroom just before the first bell rang.

"Heh, Tsuna, you just made it, huh?"

"Got lucky this time, huh?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry," Tsuna said, laughing. He took his seat in the back corner by the window and started pulling out his textbooks before Dino-sensei came in.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, age sixteen, was a normal high school boy. He had average grades, was average at sports, but liked to keep to himself, so he didn't have very many friends.

It was a secret, but in middle school, before he had moved to Namimori, he really had been absolutely no-good.

He had been bullied a lot, especially about his messy hair and his missing father. Oh, that missing father of his. Tsuna hadn't seen the man for at least four years.

Noticing it, the principal, a young man called Kawahira, offered Nana a flyer to contact a therapist whose name was Reborn. Without Tsuna's consent, Nana set up an appointment, and that was how Tsuna met Reborn. Reborn became Tsuna's first—first 'friend,' if you could call it that, helping him through his remaining two years of junior high.

"Tsuna, we're playing volleyball in P.E. today. You wanna be on the same team?"

The asker was a kind boy named Yamada. Aside from him, not many kids in Tsuna's class bothered to talk with Tsuna.

Tsuna smiled. "Eh… volleyball…"

He had a horrible memory from middle school where the volleyball had hit him in the 'special' place. He shuddered.

"I think… I'll just pass…"

"No way, man! C'mon, you're gonna be on my team. Alright, it's decided!"

Yamada held up his hand. After a few seconds, Tsuna realized Yamada wanted a high-five and quickly complied.

Tsuna was known around the school as being the #1 person who couldn't turn down a request. Luckily for him, Namimori High was a pretty friendly place (probably out of fear of Hibari Kyouya, the I'll-bite-you-to-death disciplinary member), so his inability to say 'no' wasn't taken advantage of.

"Alright guys—ow!"

"Dino-sensei, that's the second time this week you've slipped on chalk…"

"S-sorry! I mean, what? You didn't see anything…" Dino said, laughing lamely. Because he was so kind (and good-looking), many of the students laughed along with him.

"A-actually, do whatever you want," Dino said sheepishly. "I forgot we have a transfer student coming in today… so I'll be fetching him. You guys just stay here, okay?"

"Okay! Don't run into the door again."

"I won't!" Dino said, blushing. "Be good, okay? I'll be right back!"

_'I guess I can read it now…_' Tsuna thought. He pulled out the letter, which he had stuffed into his school-bag last minute, and opened it up.

_Sawada Tsunayoshi,_

_To my high school self, how are you?_

_I am writing to you ten years from the future._

_Why am I writing to you from then, are you thinking?_

_There is something I want you to do for me._

Tsuna's face grew disbelieving. '_Is this some prank done by a nut job or something?'_

He continued reading despite his incredulity.

_So that I—or you?— don't repeat the same mistakes, I am writing to you._

_But first, let me convince you of something. I will tell you some events that will be happening to you in your time._

_Today, your boxers are heart patterned, right? Just kidding; I was just guessing._

_1) A transfer student will arrive. His name will be Yamamoto Takeshi.  
This guy likes baseball a lot. His dad just opened a restaurant, Take-Sushi.  
He will sit next to you.  
Be kind, okay?!_

"What the heck…" Tsuna muttered. "Although, it's true there's a transfer student…"

The classroom door slid open and Dino walked in. A cheerful-looking boy followed behind him, beaming.

"This guy's name," Dino said once the class had settled down, "is Yamamoto Takeshi."

Tsuna's eyes popped out to the size of saucers. He glanced down at the letter to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

_1) A transfer student will arrive. His name will be Yamamoto Takeshi._

"Is there anything you want us to know?" Dino-sensei said, giving Yamamoto a friendly smile.

"Uh… Hi! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, like he said, and I really like baseball! My dad just opened up a new restaurant. It's called Take-Sushi! Drop by whenever! My pops' sushi is the best!"

_'No way.'_

The girls started whispering and the boys laughed at the new kid. Yamamoto beamed.

"Alright… your seat will be next to Sawada-san. Sawada-san, please raise your hand."

"Yo, Tsuna, he's talking to you," Yamada, who sat in front of Tsuna, whispered.

"Oh, sorry. That's me. I'm Sawada," Tsuna said, raising his hand.

Yamamoto bounced over and took his seat. "Nice to meet ya!"

_'This is way too creepy… Is the sender a stalker? A psychic stalker?'_

When no one was looking, Tsuna read on further, hiding his letter behind his textbook.

_2) The kid sitting in front of you, Yamada, will ask Yamamoto to hang out after school.  
**I want you to call Yamamoto out first. Then, say you're sorry but you forgot what you were about to say. Make sure he goes home.**_

Tsuna glanced at Yamada, who was passing Yamamoto a pencil. His eyebrows knitted together. Why did his future self—if it really wasn't a prank—not want Yamamoto to hang out with Yamada? He was a pretty nice kid. Unless he was actually a serial killer in disguise, which Tsuna highly doubted…

_'It should be fine…_'

School passed without a hitch, Tsuna managing to run into Hibari only once that day. Luckily for him, Hibari was in a good mood, having beat up a couple of people earlier, and let him off. At the end of class, Tsuna was all ears as he packed up his things.

"Hey, new kid. Yamamoto, right?"

**_I want you to call Yamamoto out first._**

Yamamoto looked up from his bag and smiled. "Yep, that's me! What's up?"

_'But… well… it's not like anything bad will happen anyways, right…?'_

"You wanna hang out after school with me and my friends today? We're planning on heading out to the new arcade in town."

A shadow passed over Yamamoto's face. "Well, that… Today's kind of…"

"C'mon, it'll be fine, right?" Yamada said, grinning. "We want to show you around town, since you're new and all."

Tsuna watched Yamamoto carefully. The boy's eyes slid down and to the side before coming back up to meet Yamada's.

"Alright. It should be fine. Right now?"

"Right now! Man, you're going to have a lot of fun, I promise! Tsuna, you want to come?"

"A-ah, no I have to drop by the store for my mom, so…"

_'I actually really want to go… oh well…'_

"Aw, too bad, man. Alright, I'll invite you when we go next time, okay? C'mon, Yamamoto!"

Tsuna smiled after the two, glad for the transfer student. Tsuna remembered that when he had first come to Namimori, he had been extremely scared because he didn't know anyone. But, fortunately on his first day, he had run into an outrageously loud sempai whose name was Sasagawa Ryohei. Ryohei had become his first, eccentric friend. They went home together now, sometimes with Tsuna's crush—Ryohei's sister, Sasagawa Kyoko.

"Yo, Sawada! You ready?!"

"Y-yeah, hang on a second!" Tsuna said, getting himself together. He hurried out, smiling at Ryohei.

"Kyoko's going home with Hana," Ryohei said, sending Tsuna a sly glance. "To the extreme."

"I-Is that so?" Tsuna said. The disappointment in his voice was ill-hidden.

Ryohei said in a casual voice, "To the extreme, Sawada, Kyoko is _my_ little sister. I'm not handing her over. I might reconsider if you join the boxing club, to the extreme!"

Leaving Tsuna to gape over what he had just said, Ryohei smiled and walked ahead.

"W-W-Wait!"

* * *

And now, he was sitting at his desk, mulling over things in his head.

_'This is definitely his fault,'_ Tsuna grumbled. _'I can just imagine it… he stalked me and found out there was a transfer student and decided to mess with my mind. He's probably laughing somewhere, now…_'

Tsuna started this blog about three years ago. Much to his surprise, Tsuna had eight or nine followers on his blog now. He wondered who they were and how they had found it. Of course, one of them was his therapist, who kept making snide comments about his sad, boring life—shouldn't the man be making nice comments; he was his therapist for goodness' sake—and the others, he had never met.

[Uh… it's me again. Of course it is, it's my blog… is what Reborn would say. Today… some strange things happened. A new transfer student came. His name… I won't say to protect his identity, but he seems really friendly. I hope I can become friends with him…

Also, I got a weird letter in the mail. I think it's a prank? I hope so, at any rate.

Thanks for reading this, you guys! I hope you all had a nice day.

Signing off,

Tsuna]

Out of curiosity, Tsuna peeped at the letter again.

_3) You update your blog. "I hope I can become friends with him. Also, I got a weird letter in the mail. I think it's a prank?"_

"What the heck… this isn't even funny…" Tsuna mumbled. "It's really… from myself in the future…"

He flipped through the pages. His eyes landed on the date: October 8th, a few months in the future. He shuddered.

"I don't need to know something like this," he muttered to himself. He tucked it away and then went to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Yamamoto wasn't at school. Tsuna shrugged it off, thinking that maybe he needed to help his family move in or something.

He wasn't there the next day either.

Two weeks later, he still hadn't shown up.

**_I want you to call Yamamoto out first. Make sure he goes home._**

_'Could it be because of that…?'_

On his way home, after having rejected Ryohei's spirited invitation to boxing club, Tsuna opened up the letter, which he hadn't touched after the day Yamamoto had transferred in.

"There's nothing in here about Yamamoto's absence… but it looks like he comes back? April 31… that's tomorrow."

_April 31:  
1) I found out why Yamamoto hadn't come to school for such a long time._

_2) Something really bad happened today. It's my fault, I think. I can't stop shaking. I'm so sorry._

"What?" Tsuna said, scrunching up his face. "Something bad will happen tomorrow? Wait… what am I saying; nothing's going to happen…"

Still, out of curiosity, he couldn't stop reading.

_I'm so sorry. It was raining, and I could have stopped him.  
Yamada said, at the end of the day, that he had forgotten his umbrella.  
**I want you to offer him yours. No matter what, go home with Yamada.**_

"Huh…?" Tsuna said. "I bet it's Reborn again… After all, last year, I found a love letter from Kyoko in my shoe locker, and I ran all the way to Reborn's house to tell him… he started laughing so much that he cried… and then I realized that Reborn had written the note and signed it with Kyoko's name…" Tsuna turned red, remembering how he had ended up crying in a corner. "That Reborn… thinks he can scare me and order me around with a letter…"

Despite himself, he could feel doubt nibbling the edges of his conscience.

_'Will… something really happen?'_

* * *

The next day, Yamamoto was back, all smiles.

"Where were you?" Yamada said, slapping Yamamoto on the back.

"Oh, you know… I was just skipping," Yamamoto returned easily.

"Man, already?! Gosh, you're badder than you look. Be careful though, or else Hibari-san will get you."

"Okay, guys, quiet down. Today's the sports festival. I need two volunteers to get the equipment for pole knocking… Yamamoto-san and Sawada-san, why don't you two go get it?"

"Tsuna's too weak to do it!" Yamada teased.

"I really am…"

"C'mon, Tsuna! We can do it," Yamamoto said, grabbing Tsuna. He pushed the protesting boy out the door and promptly said, "Where are we going?"

"Storage house in the gym… I'll show you the way."

Yamamoto hummed a little as they walked along. Tsuna bit his lips, wondering whether to ask Yamamoto why he had been gone.

"Say… Yamamoto-san…"

"Yamamoto's fine! Or Takeshi!"

"Yamamoto, then," Tsuna said, not used to being on such friendly terms with anyone. "Why were you gone for so long? I-I don't mean to pry, but I can't believe that you'd actually skip so soon, and for two weeks at that…"

The same shadow Tsuna had seen on Yamamoto's face two weeks ago flitted across the boy's features again.

"Well!" Yamamoto said after a while. "My mom died the first day I came to school."

"H-huh?"

"Yep. I had just come home after hanging out with Yamada and his friends. She had committed suicide. I found her first."

Tsuna felt horrible. Was it because of him?

**_Make sure he goes home._**

"I'm so… sorry…"

"What? It's not your fault. I thought something like that would happen," Yamamoto said a little sadly. "That's why I wanted to go home early… it's my fault, really. I should have gone home no matter what."

"Why did she…?"

"Someone burned down her parents' home," Yamamoto said. Tsuna glanced up at the taller boy.

_'He looks like he wants to cry…'_

"Incidentally—or maybe it had been on purpose—all her family had been visiting my grandparents when that happened. Brothers, sisters—everyone. It was just her who had stayed at home. Because, well… it was going to be my birthday soon, so…"

Guilt forced Tsuna to keep his eyes to the ground.

"Sorry for telling you such a weird thing, Tsuna. You just… seemed kind of… you know… and I…"

"Oh, no, it's my fault," Tsuna said hastily. "And it's… it's not weird. I'm sorry for asking you such a thing."

_'If I had just said something… if I had followed the letter's instructions, then maybe this wouldn't have happened…'_

That was the turning point of Sawada Tsunayoshi's life.

His years of solitude were about to end. He would be, from now on, dragged into a lively world, a part of which he had never known. He would make more friends than he had ever had in his life…

And ten years from now, all the friends he made…

Would be gone.

A single envelope stuffed with letters was all he had. A single envelope filled with his regrets was all he could cling to. The Sawada Tsunayoshi from the future, full of undying regrets, was reaching his hand out to his younger self to try to save his past self.

Depending on what he chose, Sawada Tsunayoshi could change the future.

Tsuna knew it now. He knew it too well now, after his encounter with Yamamoto Takeshi.

At the end of the first letter, there was a note that Tsuna had chosen to push to the very back of his mind. He had read it that day he received the letter, but it had been too unbelievable to even begin to believe.

**_Please, listen to me. Your future self. All the friends you will be making now, you will lose them later. I am writing to you because I regret it. I regret losing all of them. I regret not doing what I could have done to save them._**

**_I will die regretting._**

**_I, your self from ten years in the future, do not want you to live a life like mine._**

**_So please, listen to me._**

**_Here, where I am now, all the people you will meet—Yamamoto Takeshi, Gokudera Hayato, Hibari Kyouya, Sasagawa Ryohei, Rokudo Mukuro, Dokuro Chrome, Bovino Lambo, and even the best and most trusted figure in your life, Reborn—are gone from this world._**

**_Please._**

**_Watch them closely._**

* * *

_This was inspired ORANGE by Takano Ichigo. It is by far the best manga I have read this summer. Only seven chapters are out, which makes me really sad! I was crying by the third chapter, but maybe it's just because I am easily moved to tears…_

_I do not own KHR or ORANGE. This story will sort of follow ORANGE, but I don't want to copy it exactly… and sorry, but there will be no pairings (probably)._

_I changed this chapter quite a bit, actually. The teacher was originally going to be Nezu, but after re-reading a part of KHR, I decided that Dino should be the teacher (he's just way too hot). I hope everyone re-reads it, because changing these things is actually pretty crucial to the story X(_

_Also, do you like the story? I got a lot of views, more followers than I thought I'd get, but no reviews LOL. …is it not interesting? If it's not, then I won't continue… I don't want to take up space on the updates page X(_

_Have a nice day, everyone!_


	2. Revelation

_I rewrote the first chapter and changed a lot of things that will affect the plot. If you want, re-read it~_

_I don't own KHR or ORANGE._

* * *

Reborn yawned and straightened his tie as he sat down at his desk. Today had been such a boring day. He had gotten a boring lady whose husband was cheating on her, a boring doctor who complained that none of the ladies would go out with him, and a boring fifty-year-old man who lamented over the fact that he could never display his love and affection for Barbie dolls because everyone ostracized him and looked at him funny.

That being said, the doctor hadn't been a patient; just an old 'friend' who had dropped by to invite Reborn for a drink and to hook up with a couple of ladies. Reborn politely declined, and the doctor left with Reborn's biggest, heaviest, and sharpest pen sticking out of his arm.

Reborn sighed. He was _bored._ Life as a therapist didn't suit him at all. But, orders were orders…

_'I guess I'll check up on Tsuna,_' he decided. He opened up his laptop and went to Tsuna's page.

Tsuna was one of his favorite patients. For some reason, Reborn was constantly intrigued by the young boy.

He'd had plenty of crazy patients who entertained him to no end (there was one who had come saying that every time he woke up, there was the same dead cat in his hands; Reborn had had fun with that; after all, he had been the one to put the dead cat in the poor guy's hands), but none like Tsuna.

There was something inside the boy, Reborn could tell, something that the therapist desperately wanted to pull out and hold up to the light. He wanted to see how it would sparkle, how long it would shine, and what it would look like when it lost its light.

He had fun doing things like that. He had fun poking and prodding at his patients to see to what point he could bend them before they broke.

He smiled. Maybe life as a therapist _did_ suit him.

Timoteo and Uni knew him well.

Reborn frowned when he saw that Tsuna hadn't been updating his blog regularly. The last post had been yesterday, and the post before that had been on the fourteenth, two weeks ago.

[April 30

Hi… Sorry I haven't updated in a while! A lot of things have been on my mind lately, so I forgot… Especially to you, Reborn, I'm sorry hii! Please don't stab me with a pen next time I see you!

And the letter I mentioned last week… Reborn, was it you who sent it?! It's not funny! Y-san, the transfer student, hasn't come to school for two weeks now, and I'm getting worried! Quit stalking me and get your work done!

The letter also said that something bad would happen tomorrow… I really hope it's not true.

This is too scary. I'm going to bed.

Goodnight, everyone!]

Reborn frowned, eyebrows arching and mouth curving down. What was this letter Tsuna was talking about? Reborn hadn't been the one who had sent it (although, Tsuna had good reason to accuse his therapist. Reborn had snuck a love letter from 'Kyoko' into Tsuna's shoe locker once for a good laugh, which resulted in Tsuna crying in a small corner.).

Judging from what Tsuna had written… the letter had predicted Y-san's absence, and also told of the future…

"Intriguing," Reborn murmured. "I like it."

He hit the comments button.

[Stupid Tsuna, who would stalk you? Don't think so highly of yourself. Your life is so boring and pathetic that it would be a complete waste of time to stalk you.

Also, I was not the one who sent you that letter, I assure you.

Come by soon. I have a new pen, which is really quite heavy and lovely. I want to try it out. Ciao—Reborn]

* * *

"Dino-sensei, it's _pouring _outside," Hana said disgustedly. "We can't do pole-knocking in this sort of weather."

Tsuna sighed and Yamamoto laughed. The two of them had just gotten back from the storehouse with all the pole-knocking equipment in their arms.

"_I_ used to do it in the rain," Dino said somewhat proudly. Upon seeing the incredulous are-you-crazy-Dino-sensei-we-know-you're-joking-and-it's-not-funny expressions on his student's faces, he said, "What? It's true! I promise you! My mentor made me compete in a pole knocking competition when it was forty-two degrees Fahrenheit outside and _storming._ I thought I was going to die!"

"Whatever, Dino-sensei," Yamada laughed. "I bet you were one of the guys trying to knock the leader off the pole anyway."

"I _was_ the leader," Dino said. "And the pole was seventy feet high!"

"No way…"

"Really. I'm telling you the truth. Well, I'm not my mentor, and it _is _raining pretty badly… school is almost over, so why don't all of you go head home?"

"You're the _best_!"

"I love you!"

"I love me, too," Dino said, much to the disappointment of the girls who had confessed their love to him. He turned serious, though, saying, "Be careful now, alright? You heard what happened to that Kokuyo student. Go home in groups, avoid isolated areas, and if you find yourself alone and see any suspicious people suddenly, call the police right away. Understood?"

"Yes!"

"You guys are all too cute," Dino chuckled. "Alright. Get out of here. Stay safe."

As the rest of the class excitedly packed up their stuff, Yamamoto came over to Tsuna, slinging his already-packed schoolbag across his chest.

"What happened to Kokuyo?" Yamamoto asked.

"You didn't hear?" Tsuna said. "Yesterday, a Kokuyo student was found on the street, murdered. My mom kicked up a fuss about it, saying that I should stay home… but…"

Tsuna cast a glance at Yamamoto. _'I wanted to see if you really had come back.'_

"Wow, that's pretty horrible," Yamamoto said gravely. "Was it close-by?"

"Yeah. Kokuyo's about forty minutes away from here by bus," Yamada said. He was rummaging around in his bag, looking for something. "Dang, I think I forgot my umbrella."

"Y-You can have mine," Tsuna said shyly. "I think onii-san has an extra one, so…"

"Nah, it's okay," Yamada grinned. His boyish features lit up, and he ruffled Tsuna's hair. "You're a good kid."

"I'm not a kid! I'm the same age as you are, sixteen…"

Yamada chuckled. "You're younger by three months. It's okay, I'll just run home in the rain. My house isn't too far anyways, and I like getting soaked."

"Are you going home alone?" Yamamoto asked. "Dino-sensei said…"

"I'll be alright," Yamada said, smiling in a carefree manner. "After all, it's not likely that these things will happen to anyone, right? My chances of staying alive are pretty good."

Tsuna grew uneasy. **_No matter what,_****_ go home with Yamada._**

"A-are you sure? We can go home with you…"

"You guys all live in the opposite direction," Yamada said. "I'll be okay. Promise!"

**_No matter what…_**

_'It… should be okay, right?'_

"Yo, Sawada! You ready to go home?" Ryohei roared from the doorway. The classroom was quickly emptying out. "My teacher let us out early, too."

"Y-yeah! We're coming… Can Yamamoto and Yamada come, too?"

"Who? Oh, sure! If they join the boxing club, then it's no problem at all, to the extreme!"

Yamada grinned. "Don't sweat it Tsuna. I'll be going first. You guys get home safely, okay? See you tomorrow!"

Before Tsuna could say another word, Yamada dashed out the door. Now, only Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Ryohei remained in the classroom.

**_…go home with Yamada._**

With an uneasy heart, Tsuna left with the other two, bidding goodbye to Dino when they ran into him in the hallway.

"Oh, take care, you guys," Dino said, hastily stuffing something into his bag. "See you tomorrow."

They dropped Ryohei off first. It had taken fifteen minutes to reach his house. By that time, the rain was pouring so heavily, that they could barely see five feet in front of them.

When they reached Tsuna's house ten minutes later, Tsuna's mother demanded that Yamamoto stay over, claiming that it was far too dangerous to let him go home by himself. After calling his father and getting the OK, Yamamoto cheerfully joined them for a bath and dinner. It had taken ten minutes to get his father's consent, because Yamamoto's father had a lot on his hands with all the students taking refuge in his sushi restaurant.

They were halfway through dinner when the phone call came.

It was seven forty-three.

"Tsu-kun, could you get that?" Nana said. "I'm frosting the cake."

"Alright."

Tsuna hopped off his chair and padded to the phone. "Hello?"

_"Ah… is this… Sawada Tsunayoshi-san?"_

"Yeah, that's me," Tsuna said. He was instantly worried. The female voice on the other side of the line sounded panicked, desperate. "Is there something wrong?"

_"Can I ask you… what time did you get let out of school today?"_

"Around three thirty? Uhm, may I ask why…?"

_"You're Yamada Haruto's friend, right? I've been calling Haruto's friends, but none of them have seen him. I'm so worried!"_

Tsuna suddenly felt like he had been plunged into a pit of ice water. Yamamoto rose from his chair, seeing Tsuna suddenly break out into a fit of shivers.

"Are you alright, Tsuna?"

"Did something… happen to Yamada-san?"

_"He hasn't come home yet."_

The phone dropped out of Tsuna's hand. Yamamoto grabbed Tsuna's shoulder, turning him around to face him.

"Tsuna, are you okay? What happened? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Tsuna stared up at Yamamoto, eyes horrified. "Y-Yamada-san… I should have told him to come home with us… no matter what, I should have gone home with him…"

**_No matter what,_****_ make sure you go home with Yamada._**

"What's wrong?" Yamamoto repeated. He gripped Tsuna gently, trying to comfort him with a calm gaze. "What happened to Yamada?"

"He hasn't come home yet, Yamamoto," Tsuna whispered. "It's all my fault… this is all my fault…" He broke free of Yamamoto's grip and ran to the kitchen. "Mom! Mom!"

"My, Tsu-kun, what's wrong?"

"I'm going out for a bit!"

"In this weather? And what about the murderer?"

"I—this can't wait! I'll call if anything happens!"

"Tsu-kun! It's dangerous!"

Tsuna pulled on his raincoat and grabbed his cell phone from his bag.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto called, running after him. "Tsuna, where do you think you're going?"

Tsuna whirled around, tears in his eyes. "Don't you understand, Yamamoto? Yamada hasn't arrived home yet! It's been over four hours since we left school! He could be dead!"

"I know, Tsuna, I know," said Yamamoto, "but it'll be dangerous for you to go looking for him!"

"I can't… I can't stay home not knowing!" Tsuna said. "I'm going! Tell mom I'll be fine."

He opened the door and made to run out, but Yamamoto stopped him. Tsuna turned around, mouth open, ready to rebuke him, but he was stopped by Yamamoto's calm, steady, and determined gaze.

"You wait here. I'll get my coat. I'm coming with you."

Before Tsuna could protest that it was too dangerous for Yamamoto to come along, Yamamoto had disappeared upstairs to Tsuna's room, where he had dropped off his things. In a few seconds, he was down, pushing Tsuna out the door and yelling to Nana that they would be okay.

Tsuna could have cried. "Thank you, Yamamoto."

"Don't worry about it, Tsuna. This is what friends are for, right?" said Yamamoto with a gentle smile. "Where to?"

"Yamada's house is this way," said Tsuna. "Let's hurry."

In silence, the two of them ran.

"I came home with him once, for a project," Tsuna panted. "He said he takes this route home every day. It gets really isolated just before it hits the neighborhood."

"Are there any stores this way? Maybe he's waiting the storm out."

Tsuna shook his head. "He really cares about his mom. He'd make sure to call home if he was going to be late."

Buildings were getting sparser and sparser the further they ran along. The road was becoming darker and isolated, shaded by towering oak trees whose leaves danced in the rain. The sky above was nearly black, illuminated by flashes of lightning that were as bright as the sun.

"Wait, Tsuna, stop," Yamamoto panted. He grabbed Tsuna by the arm and whisked him behind a tree. "There's something there."

The rain pounding in their ears and hammering against their eyes, the two of them stood as still as they could, fighting down their ragged breaths. A dark form was walking slowly down the road, in their direction.

Tsuna's heart began hammering erratically in his chest, not because of physical exertion, but out of fear. His hand scrabbled for his phone. Yamamoto's grip on his arm was tight and, when Tsuna looked up at the taller boy's face, his eyes were sharp and alert.

The figure passed by them slowly. They could not see its face, because the hood to his jacket was pulled low over its bowed head. They held their breaths, counting the seconds slowly, up to thirty, before they darted out from behind the tree and down the road again.

"Who was that?" Tsuna's voice quavered. "Do you think—"

"Don't think now," said Yamamoto. "I have a bad feeling. You have your phone?"

Tsuna nodded. They dashed on.

The path was uphill, now. It wasn't a steep incline, but just enough so that all the rainwater ran sluggishly down the concrete road. It wasn't long before Tsuna noticed something strange.

His eyes grew wide.

"Yamamoto," said Tsuna, voice constricted and high, "Yamamoto, what's that—what's this?"

Yamamoto looked down, where Tsuna's gaze was fixed. He turned pale.

What looked like faint rivulets of pink water was flowing down underneath their feet.

"Oh, god, no…"

"Call the police," Yamamoto said. "It's not safe here. Let's get going, near the trees."

Gulping, Tsuna pulled out his phone with a shaking hand.

The battery was dead.

Yamamoto pulled on a strained smile. "There's nothing else for it, then. The neighborhood should be pretty close now, right? Let's go. We'll be alright."

Sticking close to the shadows, only the lightning giving their position away, the two boys crept slowly up the road. Their hearts hammered in their throats. Yamamoto threw out an arm, breathing, "look…"

Tsuna ducked underneath the arm, straining his eyes to see what Yamamoto saw. The branches of the trees swayed in the heavy wind that was starting up, the rain blew pasts in great gusts. Water ran down the road on which there lay a motionless body…

Crying out, Tsuna ran past Yamamoto, halting abruptly just a few feet away from the body.

Yamada lay at his feet, blood flowing from his belly and slit throat.

Tsuna stared blankly. And Yamada's eyes stared blindly at the sky.

"Tsuna—Tsuna, we have to get out of here!" he vaguely remembered Yamamoto urging. "It's not safe!"

But Tsuna could only stare at the corpse of one of his few friends.

_'This is all my fault… if I had only followed what the letter said… If only I had gone home… I'm so sorry…'_

Yamamoto was too preoccupied with getting Tsuna to move, and Tsuna was too stricken by Yamada's death to care. They were off-guard. Their backs were turned the way they had come. The rain was too loud for them to hear anyone approaching.

The only warning they got was a faint yell that sounded like their teacher's voice, screaming, "GET _DOWN!_"

Yamamoto's athletic instincts kicked in, and in a flash, he and Tsuna were on the ground. A knife whistled in the air, just where they had been standing. Grabbing Tsuna, Yamamoto rolled away just a second before the same knife slammed into the ground.

Yamamoto caught a glimpse of their assailant before he dragged Tsuna to his feet and started running. Hooded, face shadowed, it was the figure they had seen earlier on the same path.

Gunshots cracked in the air. An excruciating pain burst in Yamamoto's side.

Yamamoto shut his eyes and felt his heart stop. Tsuna was screaming and everything was becoming a jumbled-up mush. Rain in his ears, pain in his side, water hammering against his skin...

Yamamoto thought for a moment that he was dead.

Then, he was being shaken roughly, the voice of his teacher pounding against his eardrums.

"Are you okay? Damn, I can't believe I missed that badly. Yamamoto! Open your eyes!"

It hurt too much for Yamamoto to be dead. Tsuna cried in relief when Yamamoto's eyes opened and a goofy smile appeared on his face.

"That was… a close call, huh?"

"Oh, god, I'm _sorry_!"

Dino's face appeared in his sight, golden hair sticking to his face from the rain. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… just a graze is all," Yamamoto said, struggling to sit up. Despite Tsuna and Dino's protests, he got to his feet, albeit unsteadily, and grinned.

"I'm so sorry," Dino continued apologizing. "It's because I haven't been practicing my shooting lately. I got a phone call from Yamada's mother, and I started out at once for Yamada's home, but I guess you guys beat me to it. I saw you about to get stabbed, so I started shooting… it's my fault you got hurt, Yamamoto, I'm sorry."

Yamamoto shook his head. "Did you get him?"

"No," said Dino, mouth set in a grim line. "He got away."

"And Yamada-san?" Tsuna said.

Dino shook his head. "Even from this distance, I can tell that there's no question. He's dead."

Tsuna felt immense guilt rise up in his chest. It hurt so much that he wanted to scream to alleviate the pain. But he didn't. He couldn't.

It was his fault that Yamada was dead, so he would have to bear the weight of the guilt.

"I just called my mentor," Dino said. "He's got his hands tied up with something else, but my coworkers should be here quickly. You guys stick with me, no matter what, and you'll be safe."

For the first time, Yamamoto noticed a gun in Dino's hand.

"What's that? A toy?"

Dino laughed. "This 'toy' just saved your life. Er, well, it also hurt you, but you're alive, is the point. But, no, it's not a toy, Yamamoto. It's real."

"Why does a teacher have a gun…?"

"Er."

Dino suddenly looked sheepish. He ran a hand through the hair plastered to his face.

"Actually, I'm a police officer," Dino admitted finally. "I just… was assigned to a teaching post as an undercover cop. So, no need to worry! As long as you're with me, you should be safe."

Before Yamamoto could say anything that matched his confused thoughts, a siren began wailing in the distance. Dino smiled.

"That'll be Romario and Ivan. Come on you guys. It's okay. We're safe now."

Yamamoto realized that his legs had suddenly become very weak. He checked his side; the entire left side of his shirt had turned crimson. He smiled to himself. He had gotten lucky. Very lucky. But, Yamada…

An ambulance arrived first. Medics threw a sheet over Yamada's body. The rain covered up any tears that were shed—tears of delayed fright, sadness, and guilt.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see something like that," Dino said softly as a police car stopped beside them. An older man wearing glasses and a tall, muscular man stepped out of the car and approached. Dino gave Yamamoto and Tsuna a tight, comforting hug, murmuring, "Don't worry. We'll get the killer, no matter what."

* * *

Reborn shifted his towel through his wet hair, having just gotten out of the shower after being drenched by the rain. In the bank across from the therapy center, a robber had been holding the workers at gun-point. Reborn had left his office, walked across the street in the rain, and calmly knocked out the robber.

He came back in a foul mood, the robber having managed to put a hole through Reborn's favorite fedora before being knocked unconscious, and cancelled all the rest of his appointments he had that day so that he could go home.

He didn't feel like taking the bus or interacting with other people. It took him about an hour to walk home on foot in the rain.

And now, something was nagging at him, telling him that he should check Tsuna's blog. He shrugged. He didn't have anything else to do. He logged on and opened Tsuna's page, pleasantly surprised to see that a new post had been made just five minutes ago, at nine-oh-three p.m.

His surprise quickly turned into vague concern and interest for his patient.

[I'm at the police station now. They are letting me type out what happened, since every time I try to talk, I can't and I cry. Yamamoto is here with me. So is Dino-sensei.

Something really bad happened today. It's my fault, I think. I can't stop shaking. I'm so sorry. It was raining, and I could have stopped him.  
Yamada said, at the end of the day, that he had forgotten his umbrella. I offered him mine, but he refused it and ran home by himself. I got a phone call from his mom about four hours after we got out from school, saying that Yamada hadn't come home yet. I ran out to find him. Yamamoto followed me.  
I went home with Yamada once, so I knew what route he had taken. We had just entered the final road to his neighborhood. Yamamoto saw someone, so he grabbed me, and we hid. The person passed by us. We went on.  
We found Yamada on the road. We heard someone call out to us to duck. Yamamoto pulled me down. The person we had seen earlier was attacking us. Yamamoto pulled me to the trees, and we heard gunshots. Dino-san had saved us. Yamamoto got hit by accident.

This is what I gave to the police. Dino-san got them to let me keep the laptop I wrote it on. From here on out, this is the truth.

The letter told me 'no matter what, go home with Yamada.' I should have listened. I should have listened to myself from ten years in the future. He knew that this was going to happen, and he told me to go home with Yamada. Yamada was alone, but if we all had gone home together, maybe the murderer would have left us alone.

I should have listened to the letter. I regret it so much. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault.

I brought the letter with me. I forgot I had put it in my raincoat this morning.

This is what it says for tomorrow and the day after:

_May 1_

_1) I skipped school today. I couldn't bring myself to go to just be reminded of Yamada's absence. __Maybe if I had asked Yamada to come home with Ryohei and Yamamoto and me, he would still be alive. _

_2) Yamamoto dropped by. He said there was an announcement and a moment of silence for Yamada's death. The funeral is on the third. Do I have a right to go? _

_May 2_

_1) Yamamoto got me to come to school today. He dropped by in the morning and dragged me out of bed. He made me laugh. He's a great friend. I'm so glad I met him. _

_2) A new transfer student came today. His name is Gokudera Hayato. He sits in Yamada's seat. He seems really unfriendly.  
_**_I want you to ask him to have lunch with you. Don't leave him alone._**

I won't leave him alone. This time, no matter what, I'll do what the letter says. If it means that I can save my friends, then…

I don't want to die regretting.

This is a secret between you and me.

Please, stay safe everyone.

—Tsuna]

* * *

_How was it? Was it okay? Thank you for the quite frankly overwhelming response and encouragement. I know this story isn't as popular as some of the other stories out there, but I'm really surprised at the number of favs/reviews/follows! Thank you so much! *cries_

_It was just weird that there were a lot of follows and favorites, but no reviews :x Makes me think no one likes the story... But thanks for the encouragement! :) It's really appreciated and makes my day. __If you have any suggestions on how I can make this story better, please say them. I'm always looking to improve._

_Review please :D?_


	3. Like the Winter Wind

_A few people expressed confusion over the beginning. Starting from this chapter, bits from the future will be incorporated into the story, just as ORANGE has done. __**Nettik**__, what you requested had been my plan from the start!_

_Orange's mixing of the future with the present was also really confusing (to me), so I tried to put that element of confusion into the story... but just to clear things up, the first scene is of TYL Tsuna!_

_Thanks to a reviewer, Lightning515, I will now be making clear the future and present! Future being labeled with 26, present with 16._

* * *

**26**

"Come in."

Yamamoto, Tsuna's friend of ten years, popped his head into the room.

"You almost ready to go, Tsuna?"

"Yeah, almost. I just have to finish this letter to Kyoko, and then I'll be ready," Tsuna said, sighing, pulling the paper out. "She wants to know if we have any leads on Ryohei yet…"

A shadow crossed over both their faces.

"And have you heard anything about Dino…?" Yamamoto ventured to ask.

Tsuna shook his head.

Yamamoto's face creased unnaturally as he smiled, emphasizing the new scar on his chin. "It'll all be alright." Tsuna could do nothing but nod slowly.

Yamamoto pulled out his phone, tinkering with it as Tsuna finished his letter to Kyoko.

_…as of yet, there are no clues as to where he might have gone. I don't want to get into the details, but there were signs of a struggle… Please, don't worry, Kyoko. We'll find your brother, and when we do, he'll be safe and healthy. I promise you._

What an empty promise, Tsuna thought bitterly. How many of his promises over the past ten years had been carried out? He could count on his fingers.

_I'll let you know as soon as we get any leads on the case. I hope you are doing well._

_—Tsuna_

"Done?" Yamamoto asked, noticing the absence of the noise of pen on paper. Tsuna hummed, folding the letter and putting it in an envelope, which he left for his secretary to send off.

"Do you think he'd like some flowers for once?" Yamamoto said breezily as they strolled out of Vongola Police Station. "Maybe… red ones?"

Tsuna laughed. "Since when has Gokudera-kun ever liked flowers? He'd probably like a new gun or something… the latest model… have you seen it? Gianini showed me the one he had customized for Gokudera-kun a while ago."

"You mean the one with the skulls on it?" Yamamoto laughed. "Gokudera sure would have loved to get that one."

"He had too many," Tsuna said, shaking his head. "I don't know how he kept them all on him. I had to fill out special paperwork to let him carry that amount around, not to mention his specialized bombs."

"Hey, don't you think that would be a good present, actually?"

Tsuna stopped. "What?"

Yamamoto turned around, back to the building. "That gun. Gianini is still around, isn't he? He should have it with him."

"But how would we give it to Gokudera-kun?"

"Just put it as close to him as we can," Yamamoto said. "You know? Here, you wait, and I'll go fetch it. Be back in a second!"

Tsuna smiled after his friend's back. He leaned against the tall building, head turned to the sky, but eyes blind to the blueness. Time had passed so quickly… already, it had been a year…

Yamamoto returned quickly, and they set off. They chatted in the car, dropping by the flower store in the end, because it was a tradition anyways to leave flowers after visiting.

It was quiet when they arrived, but then again, it was always quiet. There was just a soft breeze ruffling the grass lining the concrete walkway.

"Yo, Gokudera!" Yamamoto greeted, raising his hand. "How've you been? Ahh, looks like you've gotten older."

"We brought you flowers," Tsuna said. "Even though you don't like them."

"And check this out!" Yamamoto said excitedly. "It's a year old, but it's still like brand new, you know what I mean? Gianini customized it for you. It's perfect! Look at all the skulls on it… I can tell you love it already. Here, I'll put it right here for you. There aren't any bullets, though…"

"I hope no one takes it," Tsuna commented as Yamamoto laid the gun down.

"It's okay. Even if someone does, they can't fire it. This gun can only use a special type of bullet, which only Gianini… they're customized, too. Check it out."

Tsuna laughed at the skull-shaped bullet. "Gianini really knows Gokudera well, huh?"

"He should; he's been working with us for the past… ten years has it been? Since high school, right?"

"Yeah, we were sixteen back then… such a long time ago."

"And that was when we were all together…"

Yamamoto cleared his throat. Tsuna looked down.

"I guess Bianchi's been around to visit her brother," Tsuna said, squatting down. "She left sake…? It's purple…"

"That's just like her; Gokudera would have loved it. If you know what I mean."

"Indeed." Tsuna chuckled. "…We should go now. We have a meeting with Squalo… I don't want to be late. Last time…"

"Last time he almost decapitated me with his butter knife," finished Yamamoto with a grin. "It was so fun!"

"Is that so…"

They both stood, brushing the dirt off their knees. Neither wanted to leave. They lingered there, fingers brushing the cold stone on which the name_Gokudera Hayato_ was engraved.

Then, finally, they left.

* * *

[May 1, 2014; 4:37 a.m.

I decided I would go to school today. I think I would regret it if I weren't there to pay my respects to Yamada. Even though the letter says that I would stay home, I want to change the future.

I couldn't sleep. I came home from the police station at around 3:00 in the morning. Yamamoto's dad came to pick him up, but when he saw us, I guess we looked like beaten kittens or something, because he said that Yamamoto could stay over. I appreciated that. I don't think I would have been able to handle being alone.

Dino-sensei took us both home. Mom was crying. She made us soup, begged Dino-sensei to stay, and then sent us all off to bed. Right now, the lights are off. No one is sleeping.

Dino-sensei is texting someone. He has the futon on the floor. Yamamoto and I are sharing the bed. It's comforting. He's alive. And I'm alive. As long as I know that, I think I'll be all right.

I can't sleep, but that's alright. I don't want to.

I hope everyone is having sweet dreams. And, if Yamada can see this… I'm so sorry.

—Tsuna]

Quietly, Tsuna shut his laptop and slid it under his bed. The noise alerted Dino, who switched off his iPhone, leaving them in complete darkness and silence, only punctuated by the never-ending rain.

"You still awake, Sawada? Yamamoto?" Dino said.

"Yeah."

"I was just texting my coworkers. They said they couldn't find any trace of the murderer as of yet. But don't worry. I'll protect my cute students."

_'But you didn't protect Yamada,'_ Tsuna couldn't help but think bitterly. He shook his head. _'What am I thinking? It's not Dino-sensei's fault. It's my fault, completely, entirely my fault…'_

"Then, there's school today?" Yamamoto asked presently.

"Yeah," Dino said. "I'm surprised, but principal said that there would be a half-day of school. Don't worry. I contacted my superior, and he said that he'd make sure to have police stationed all around the school. I'll walk you guys home, and I'll get my friends to escort other kids as well."

"How long have you been a police officer?" Yamamoto asked curiously. "Why did you become a teacher?"

Dino laughed softly. "Well, I started training when I was around your age, sixteen. I was completely useless, and everyone told me to quit. _I_ wanted to quit, but that man… my mentor beat me into shape and made me into the man I am today. As for why I'm a teacher… I like kids! The police station I work for, the Cavallone Headquarters, specializes in undercover cops. I volunteered for a teaching position about two years ago, and it was only this year that I got accepted."

"That's awesome," Yamamoto said. "So you can teach and protect your students all at the same time, huh?"

They could barely hear the poignant acrid tone in Dino's chuckle. "That was my intention. But after today, I see that it's not that easy to do both. I'm sorry, you two. I should have kept an eye on everyone…"

"But that's impossible," Yamamoto said. "You can't keep an eye on everyone! That's like going to a batting range and having the machine throw a hundred balls at you all at once. You can't get all of them, no matter how hard you try."

Dino laughed. "That's one way to put it."

They listened to the rain for a while in a suffocating air. What happiness they shared was fleeting in the wake of Yamada's death.

Guilt pressed down on Tsuna, a weight that not even the strongest bridge in the world could support. He was near breaking; never before had he felt so responsible for another's life; never before had he been the cause of someone else's death… Tsuna found himself crying violently, unable to say anything but the 'I'm sorry' he knew that Yamada would never hear.

Dino felt his way to the bed and gently pushed Tsuna towards Yamamoto, making room for himself. Like a brother, he embraced Tsuna and as much of Yamamoto as he could reach.

"It's okay… it's not your fault… it's okay…"

Together, the three of them lay on that one bed, wrapped in darkness and surrounded by the sound of rain. It was comforting, knowing that the adjacent person was alive, breathing, warm…

No one slept.

* * *

"…a kind boy, an eager student, and a loving brother of two younger sisters…"

Tsuna kept his head bowed, tears flowing unchecked from his eyes. His classmates around him sniffed, some crying openly, others staring defiantly, or unseeingly into the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a rare figure standing at the door of the auditorium: Hibari. The disciplinary figure was paying his last respects to a student of his school.

"…will be missed. It is our greatest hope that one day, his family shall be able to smile and look upon his memories with fondness…"

Tsuna turned his head to see more clearly the solitary figure. The auditorium was dark, and the only lights were that from the stage and from the open door. Hibari's slim figure was silhouetted, but a sliver of light caught and played with his features.

Tsuna shivered. Hibari looked colder than Tsuna had ever seen him. It was like the glint in his steely grey eyes was saying _"I'll find that murderer and bite him to death."_

"…a _regret_ to die this young. But, death is simply another journey, and Yamada Haruto shall not be forgotten…"

_'I want to forget that this ever happened…'_

Images of Yamada's body flashed through Tsuna's mind. The memories had plagued him ever since he had arrived home. He shook. Yamamoto laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"…the murderer will be caught, hopefully with no more casualties… until then, everyone, please stay safe and alert. Remember Yamada Haruto, and remember that anyone's life may be taken away in an instant…"

_'I'm sorry, Yamada. I'm so, so sorry.'_

"Please, let us have a moment of silence for Yamada Haruto…"

* * *

**16**

The swing set swayed gently in the soft breeze. For a brief moment, a red bird fluttered down on the bars of the swings, flicking its wings and casting nervous glances around as the rays of the dying sun glanced off its feathers.

Nearby, a branch snapped in two under the weight of a foot.

In a flash of red, the bird was gone. Heavy steps approached the swings, weary, dragging steps. With a sigh, a skinny teenager sank down into the too-small swing, hugging the chains with his fingers, scuffing the sand with his toes. He shivered.

It was still chilly, though it was already early May.

"EXTREME TO THE MAX!"

The boy lifted his eyes from the ground in time to see a white-haired boy speed past the playground.

"_EXTREME_ TO THE MAX!"

"What the…"

Having seen the boy, the white-haired teenager had leaped to the swing set. The sun behind him, it looked like he was _glowing_.

"I haven't seen you before, to the extreme," the white haired boy said without preamble. "Are you new around here? I'm Ryohei, by the way. Sasagawa Ryohei."

Ryohei wiped the sweat off his brow, still bathed in the orange-red rays.

"Are you new? If you're new, then that's awesome. You have to join the boxing club if you're new. It's a new extreme rule that I made just now."

Oblivious to the fact that he was carrying on a one-sided conversation, Ryohei continued: "Well, I'd better get going to the extreme. It's almost dinnertime, and I promised Kyoko to be home before the sun set. You shouldn't stay out too long either, to the extreme," Ryohei added, frowning. "You're new, so I don't think you've heard. Yesterday, a kid from my school was murdered. But, don't worry; when you're with me, you'll be safe! If the murderer comes along, I'll just do this—" Ryohei did a couple punches, "—and then it'll be a one-hit KO right there, to the extreme! This is why you should do boxing! But, I've really got to go. If you ever need help, just call out for 'Sasagawa Ryohei, the extreme boxer who thinks that everyone should do boxing because it is just about the most extreme sport you can ever do to the extreme.' Everybody knows me around here."

Eyebrows raised, the boy nodded. Ryohei gave him a blinding grin and turned around.

"Oh!" Ryohei said, looking back behind him. "I like your hair, by the way."

The boy started, his hand reflexively going up to his head.

Ryohei tapped his own head with a finger, grinning. "Silver. It's an extreme color."

* * *

"I'm glad to see you all safely here," Dino said. There was a small pause as his brown eyes scanned the classroom a little sadly. Empty seats littered the classroom here and there, belonging to students whose parents wouldn't allow them to leave the house. "I know it's so soon, but we have another transfer student. Everyone, please welcome Gokudera Hayato."

Tsuna's face was set, Dino noticed, not an ounce of surprise as the silver-haired transfer student slunk in through the door. A bad aura hung around the sullen-looking teenager as he scowled at the entire class, which had immediately broke out into whispers. Dino chuckled silently. The boy had been like this since he had arrived.

Smoldering green eyes hooked Dino's amused gaze, and Dino gulped.

"W-Well, Gokudera-san, do you have anything you'd like for us to know about you?"

"No."

Dino's smiled fazed a bit, clearly affected by Gokudera's angry waves. "Er, nothing at all?"

Gokudera sent Dino a glare. Dino wilted.

"No."

Dino managed a laugh. "O-okay, then. Your seat is right in front of Sawada-san. Sawada-san, please raise your hand.

Timidly, Tsuna raised it, flinching as Gokudera stomped forward and slumped into the seat—_Yamada's seat—_and immediately put his feet up on the desk.

"U-uh, Gokudera-san, could you—" Dino began.

"No."

Class progressed excruciatingly slowly. Lunchtime approached. And every minute, every second, the words of the letter rang in Tsuna's head.

**_I want you to ask him to have lunch with you. Don't leave him alone._**

Before the bell rang, Tsuna mustered up what little courage he had in his heart. Lunch began, and the classroom quickly emptied out. No one approached Gokudera, his scowl clearly conveying the message _"Screw Off."_

"Tsuna, do you want to eat lunch together?" Yamamoto asked, pulling out a bento. "My dad packed extra sushi. We can share!"

"Sure," Tsuna said. Hesitatingly, he turned to Gokudera, whose eyes were fixed outside. "Gokudera-san, would you like to—"

"No," Gokudera said curtly. "Screw off.

Tsuna winced. Yamamoto laughed.

"Now, now, you don't have to be so shy!"

Gokudera turned an interesting shade of purple and spluttered, _"Who's_being shy?"

"You just came, and you have no friends here! Of course you're lonely. You look it."

"I'm _not _lonely! Screw off!"

"It's obvious you want to eat lunch together," Yamamoto said easily. "C'mon! Let's go to the rooftop. No one goes there."

"I said, screw _off_."

"Now, now, we're just being friendly," Yamamoto grinned. "Do you like sushi? My pop's is the best!"

_'Yamamoto is amazing,'_ Tsuna thought to himself wonderingly. _'He talks with people so easily… Doesn't even notice that they hate him…'_

"You're as annoying as crap," Gokudera spat. From the front, Dino, who hadn't left yet, coughed a little, as if he were hiding a laugh. Gokudera shot him a venomous glare. "Leave me alone, you freak."

Yamamoto shrugged. "We'll just eat lunch here, then."

Gokudera stood to leave, but the door had slid shut. A clicking noise came from outside and a pretend-despairing voice sang, "oh, my! I seem to have locked the classroom from outside! What do I do… it'll take me all of lunch to find my keys even though they're in my hand!"

Dino's laughter continued for a while until he walked out of earshot.

Gokudera seethed. "That bas—"

"Now, now," Yamamoto laughed. "Dino-sensei's a really good guy, locking us in so that we could all be great friends! Gokudera, do you want some sushi? It's really good!"

"_No_," Gokudera said. Tsuna looked up nervously, seeing a livid expression on the teen's pale face. "It would do you well to leave me _alone_."

Before any of them could say another word, Gokudera strode over to the door, kicked it down, and left.

* * *

The next week, Tsuna tried and failed to get close to Gokudera. No matter how much he or Yamamoto (who had somehow sensed that Tsuna was really trying to be Gokudera's friend) tried to talk to the foreigner, Gokudera slipped between their fingers like water.

"Gokudera-san, you dropped your textbook!" Tsuna called after him once. Gokudera didn't even look back.

"I don't need it."

"Gokudera-san, w-would you like to h-have lunch?"

"Screw off."

"Gokudera-san—"

_"What is your deal_?" Gokudera whirled around and slammed his hand into the nearest locker. "I don't get why you're trying to be so buddy-buddy with me, but _I don't need it._"

Rumors had already started flying, and Gokudera had only been in school for four days.

"I heard he got into a fight with Hibari-san…"

"He was smoking on campus, wasn't he?"

"What a delinquent…"

"Guys like him should just leave."

"It's cool, but it's a little… too much…"

As far as Tsuna could see, Gokudera wasn't at all affected by these comments. Even when rumors sprouted up about him (_I heard he killed someone but was too young to get put into jail)_ and people started talking about him right in front of him (_if he doesn't want to be here, why doesn't he just leave?_) Gokudera took it all with a calm, defiant look on his pale face.

But was Gokudera really okay? Tsuna found himself wondering as he watched Gokudera leave the classroom during lunch, heading to the rooftop where he would take his usual smoke (_what a delinquent)_. If Gokudera was really alright, Tsuna's future self wouldn't be saying to never 'leave him alone.'

"Don't you think Gokudera's kinda strange?" Yamamoto asked on the way home the fifth day after Gokudera's arrival.

"Yamamoto, you, too?" Tsuna said despairingly.

"What? I don't mean it like the others," Yamamoto said. "I mean, like, have you seen his face sometimes?"

"His face? You mean like, how scary it is?"

Yamamoto shook his head, folding his hands behind his head. "No… it's like sometimes, when he thinks no one's looking… well, it's like… you know, it's like that…"

"…huh?"

Yamamoto smiled a little foolishly. "It's like… when everyone's getting into their little friendship groups during class or lunch or something… and when he thinks no one's looking, he sort of looks at how well everyone is getting along, and he looks really… just… _sad_."

Tsuna looked up at Yamamoto, but the boy was gazing into the sky, a rarely-seen crease in between his eyebrows.

"It's like how I imagine the winter wind would be. It's outside all alone, cold, and howling while everyone else is inside, warm, and happy. That's the feeling I get when I see Gokudera… Don't you think?"

Tsuna could say nothing. Yamamoto's words had hit home. In silence, they walked.

The wind whistled past the two of them, kicking up dried leaves fallen from dead trees.

* * *

_Hello, after a long absence! So much college junk to do ToT_

_SAT, essay, applications, what else is left… supplementary materials… I'm dying here…_

_As it probably shows, school is killing my muse. Not much development/detail here... I feel like it's kind of on the scanty side, too. But, half the next chapter is written already, so hopefully, it won't take as long to update this time! I didn't want to make this chapter 6000 words+, but if it's okay with you all, let me know, and I won't worry about length anymore._

_OH MY GOD THE NEW ORANGE KILLED MY HEART AT THE END I WAS LIKE OH MY GOD x 7_

_Thanks for all your reviews! They are absolutely amazing :) And as always, reviews are absolutely delicious, and I would be delighted if you left one for me to read~_

_**Anon review replies**_

_**The Mortician:**__ If you ever remember the title, you should let me know! I've never read a book on this theme before, and I'd be super interested XD_


	4. Brush with Death

"Alright class, get into groups of three for your physics lab," Dino announced. "Don't give me that look. I hate physics just as much as you do."

"Then why do we have to do it?"

"Because the principal says so. And the principal is _scary._ Now, get to it!"

Automatically, Yamamoto and Tsuna gravitated towards each other.

"Third person…"

Most everyone else had clumped together in their usual friend cliques. Only one person remained…

"Hey, wait here, Tsuna. I'll go ask Gokudera to join us."

"H-huh?" Tsuna protested, reaching out a hand and stopping Yamamoto. "W-we've already tried that, and last time, he gave you a concussion with a textbook…"

Yamamoto laughed. "It's alright! It wasn't a bad concussion after all. I still remember who King James II is… or… or maybe not, but things like that aren't important anyways. I'll be right back!"

"But…" Tsuna said doubtfully. "Gokudera-san seems like he likes being alone better, so…"

"Come on, Tsuna, you saw his face just now," said Yamamoto. "Is that the face of someone who likes a solitary life?"

"Well…"

"Plus, Tsuna, you shouldn't give up so easily."

Tsuna's head snapped up, his eyes questioning Yamamoto, who laughed.

"It's plain to anyone who'd bother looking that you really want to get close to Gokudera. If it's so important to you, why are you giving up on him so easily? I don't know why you want to become friends with him so badly, but since you're my friend, I won't just stand by and watch you just let it be." Yamamoto grinned at Tsuna and ruffled his hair. "If something's important to you, you shouldn't let go of it so easily."

_'If something's important to me, I shouldn't let go of it so easily?_'

That phrase reminded of something he had read that morning while he was waiting for Yamamoto on the way to school. Tsuna glanced down at his schoolbag where he could see the tips of a hastily folded piece of paper poking out of the depths.

_May 7_

_I'll give you a few words of advice for today, self of ten years ago. Don't give up on something that's important to you—that's what a good friend of mine said to me long ago. Over the years, I have done just that far too many times to count, and I have regretted it each time._

_Now, for today:_

_1) Today, I had a brush with death. _

_A package came to our classroom, and somehow, the door got blocked from outside. Our classroom is on the third floor, so there was no way to get out. […] No one knew what to do. We all thought we were going to die. _

_Then, Gokudera did something completely unexpected, something that saved us all. But in the end, it was also something that destroyed our lives in that moment. […] I ended up in the hospital, half my bones broken.  
__**I want you to follow your instincts, no matter what. If people try to stop you, don't give up. No matter what, you **_**must****_ do what you think is right._**

**_Trust yourself._**

Truth be told, this letter frightened Tsuna more than anything had in his entire life. Knowing what had happened to Yamada, Tsuna could no longer take any chances.

And yet, even though he had seen what had happened because he had not followed the letter's instructions, Tsuna could not bring himself to act.

Here he was, five days after Gokudera had transferred in, and he still could not carry a conversation. He had given up on communicating with Gokudera.

He hated himself, who had always been this way. Always giving up before starting. Always giving up halfway. Always failing.

Always regretting.

"Screw _off_!"

"Whoa, there, pens are dangerous when you wave them around like that!"

"You two!" Dino said, hurrying over. "Please, Gokudera, calm down. Yamamoto, you… well… you're not exactly doing anything wrong, so, I can't scold you, but…"

"He's _harassing _me—"

"Dino-sensei," a girl called out. "A package came."

Tsuna stiffened.

_A package came to our classroom, and somehow, the door got blocked from outside. _

Had the time come? Was what the letter said really going to come true? Tsuna stood, frozen to the spot, only his eyes moving as they tracked Dino's every movement.

Sighing, the golden-haired teacher rubbed the back of his neck and walked to the door, where a neat, rather large package sat.

"Did you see who dropped it off?"

"No."

Dino rummaged in his back pocket and pulled out a credit card, using it to slit open the package. Styrofoam peanuts spilled out of the box. Dino pulled something square and black from the box.

He froze, eyes widening.

Then, sharply, he ordered, "Everyone, get out of here!"

The chatter in the classroom died away. The students had never heard this harsh, commanding tone from their teacher.

"Sensei, what—?"

"You heard me!" The note of panic in Dino's voice was ill-hidden. "Run! Get out! Tell everyone you see to get out of the building! Call the police, tell them to bring in the bomb-disposal squad—"

"The _what—?"_

Dino took as calm a breath as he could.

"There are bombs in the package."

A moment of silence in disbelief—then, Tsuna was covering his hands around his ears as screams erupted. A mass of confusion conglomerated at the door but did not decrease; the door would not open. The boy tugging at the door was pushed roughly aside by a member of the wrestling club, who slammed his shoulder against the wood. But, after having been kicked down by Gokudera's foot, the door had been replaced by something sturdier and stronger, and even under the furious, panicked assaults from the students, the wood did not break.

Dino's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. The students parted as he made his way to the door. He took one look out the window and then turned back around, face dark.

"Someone blocked the door," he said. His eyes darted to the windows. "Too high."

_'Our classroom is on the third floor, so there was no way to get out.'_

"What are we going to do?"

_'No one knew what to do. We all thought we were going to die.'_

Chills ran down Tsuna's spine. Yet again, the letter's words were holding true.

"Are we going to die?"

"Is this just a joke?"

Dino put on a strained smile. "It's not a joke, you guys. But, I promise you, we will all get out of here alive."

His eyes hardened. "I swear it on my life."

Dino seemed to grow taller, back straightening, jaw squared. "Sawada, Yamamoto. Call the police and tell them to send in the bomb squad. Kurokawa, here's my cell—find the principal's number and let him know he needs to get everyone out of the building. The rest of you, stay calm, don't call anyone, and don't make noise."

"Are we going to—"

Dino cut in before the question could be finished. "We're all going to be fine."

Dino turned back to the bomb-laden package as Tsuna fumbled for his phone. "A-ah—hello? I'm calling—there's an emergency—bombs here in school—where? Namimori High School… we're locked in—"

Dino meanwhile was about to plunge his hands into the package when a cold hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him back. Tsuna forgot to speak for his moment, eyes fixed on the scene.

_'Then, Gokudera did something completely unexpected, something that saved us all.'_

At the edge of his nerves, Dino turned, ready to yell, but was met by a cold, green stare that silenced him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gokudera said quietly. "Those bombs could be designed with a trembler switch. Besides, clumsy people like you should just get out of the way."

Leaving Dino to splutter, Gokudera rolled up his sleeves and tucked his hair behind his ears. Ignoring the angry calls of his classmates, he ran his hands around the package.

"About ten of them in here," he grunted. "This is the first one you picked up, right? It doesn't have a trembler switch, then, otherwise it'd have detonated already."

Turning green at the near brush with death, Dino ushered the students to the back of the room, as far as they could get from Gokudera. Seeing Tsuna hesitate at leaving Gokudera alone, Yamamoto pulled him forward.

"Gokudera, is there anything we can do?"

Gokudera's eyes flickered up to their faces before fixating on the bomb in his hands again. "Scissors. Do you have any?"

"H-huh? Y-yeah…"

As Tsuna hurried to fetch the scissors, Gokudera scrutinized the bomb heavily. Snorting, he slammed the bomb against the floor harshly, eliciting screams from the students. Dino ran forward hastily, ready to stop seemingly suicidal Gokudera.

"Are you trying to kill us?" a girl in hysterics screamed. But, Gokudera simply poked his finger inside the bomb and shook it around. The contents tumbled out in a jumbled mess on the floor.

"Amateur," he scoffed. "This one was simple. Just separate the explosive material from the rest of the bomb, and you're safe. It didn't even matter that I banged it around a bit… The next one, though," he said, bending down to examine it, "I think this one actually has a trembler switch set up in it."

"You've been going on about that one for a while," Yamamoto commented, squatting down. He garnered both admiring and frightened looks for his way-too-calm demeanor. "What's a trembler switch anyways?"

"Balance sensor," Gokudera mumbled distractedly. "If you tip the bomb, it'll explode. Shut up, I need to concentrate."

Yamamoto backed away a bit, stopping Tsuna from handing the scissors to Gokudera.

"I don't really get it," Yamamoto said sheepishly, "but it seems like it's a pretty serious game, so we shouldn't interfere just yet. But toys these days look so real!"

Tsuna gaped at his friend. "… not… not a game, I don't think…"

"But, Gokudera's pretty amazing, don't you think?" Yamamoto said. "He knows all these things about bombs—I mean, look at him go!"

Gokudera triumphantly set aside the trembler-switched bomb and ran his eyes over the next one. The minutes crawled by. Sweat ran down faces, and hearts were trembling as all eyes fixated upon the silver-haired, pale boy.

Six bombs left. Five. Four, then three. Eyes flickered to the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes had passed. Outside, the rest of the school waited anxiously in the sports-stadium, and ladders were being pulled up to the third floor window.

The intercom crackled, and a cheery voice floated out into the air.

"My, my, you might want to put those ladders down. Wouldn't want the bombs to go off by accident, now would we?"

More than one person screamed at the announcement. Faintly, they could hear orders from below to stop.

"Who is that?"

"Is that the person who set this all up?"

"That basta—"

"Who are you?" Dino yelled over the ruckus. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

The voice chuckled. "Now, now, calm down now. Gokudera-chan is doing so nicely right now, working hard to save your lives."

A confused mumble geared up.

"How does he know Gokudera's name?"

"An accomplice—"

"—a prank—"

"Murderer…"

"No, no, Gokudera-chan and I aren't acquaintances. What you're saying doesn't even make sense. Don't break his concentration now, or he might not finish in time! There's a time limit, you know?"

Another voice broke out over the intercom, a little younger and panicked.

"W-wait, Byakuran, you never said anything about putting timers on them!"

"Now, now, Shou-chan, it's much more fun this way!"

A clatter in the classroom made everyone jump. Gokudera had dumped the last bomb onto the floor. A timer was taped onto it…

4:02

4:01

4:00

3:59

"That's the timer!" Dino yelped. "Just under four minutes left!"

"Very good deduction, Dino-sensei. Or, should I say, Bucking-Horse Dino? They still call you that nowadays, don't they?"

"How did you—"

"Shh, Gokudera-chan's working…" 'Byakuran' sang.

Gokudera had pried off the top of the bomb. Inside was a mess of wires, red, green, blue—a whole rainbow of them was tangled up in the small box.

"Like it?" 'Byakuran' said, sounding as if he very much enjoyed what was happening. "I designed it myself. The typical 'red or black' wire bomb—times seven! Which one will cut the circuit; which one will make it explode, I wonder? There's only one that will let you leave the room safely!"

"I told you not to put that one in there!"

"Hush, Shou-chan. Two minutes and ten seconds left… my, my, better get a move on it."

"Gokudera, need anything?"

"Shut it," Gokudera said. Tsuna took a quick look at the other boy's face. It had gone as white as a sheet. "Just… I need the scissors."

Quickly, Tsuna handed the blue-handled scissors to Gokudera, jumping away as quickly as possible. He desperately wanted to huddle at the very back of the classroom with the rest of his classmates, but something held him where he was, standing next to Yamamoto and Dino, watching anxiously as Gokudera's slim fingers traced the wires.

"Clever," he was murmuring. "Very clever…"

Tsuna could not take his eyes away from the bomb. He felt a pull towards them; something intuitively was telling him which one to cut…

_The orange… cut the orange…_

But Gokudera's fingers had gripped the red wire. Sweat ran down Tsuna's face. He wanted to tell Gokudera to snip the orange wire in two, not the red. But, what did Tsuna know? Gokudera was obviously the explosives expert in the room, and all Tsuna had was his intuition… his instinct…

**_I want you to follow your instincts, no matter what. If people try to stop you, don't give up. No matter what, you _****must****_ do what you think is right._**

Eyes wide, Tsuna stopped breathing. Every eye was riveted on the red wire and the silver blades. The metal clamped around the red wire, and Gokudera's face, a mask of concentration, was whiter than a sheet.

Tsuna could see the muscles in Gokudera's hands working to squeeze the scissor handle. He could see them shaking. He could see the skin turning white from applied pressure; could see the first knick in the insulating plastic around the wire—

"_Stop_!"

Tsuna jumped forward and snatched up the bomb, scissors clattering to the floor.

"The hell, Tsuna!" his classmates screamed. "What do you think you're doing? Give that back to Gokudera! _Only a minute left—_"

"Tsuna, calm down," even Dino was saying. "C'mon, Gokudera knows what he's doing… what's this all of a sudden? _Only a minute left—_"

Only Yamamoto remained silent. His warm brown eyes met Tsuna's for a full second, and Tsuna got the sense that Yamamoto was telling him _'I trust you.'_

Telling him '_Trust yourself.'_

"Put it down!"

"_Only twenty seconds left!"_

No one wanted to come near Tsuna; no one wanted him to hold the bomb. Gokudera still kneeled on the floor, muted, frozen; Yamamoto held an arm out in front of Dino.

Sweating, Tsuna picked the scissors from the ground.

_If my future self is wrong… well, I can't do anything. I guess I'll be dead._

_But should I do it?_

_What do I do?_

The seconds were slipping past him; his entire body was drenched in sweat; he didn't know what to do.

**_Trust yourself._**

"Trust yourself, Tsuna!"

_I'm trusting you… myself in ten years._

And without another thought, Tsuna clenched his eyes shut and snapped his fingers together.

The blades of the scissors sliced the orange wire in two.

* * *

"Anyone there? If you can hear me, call out!"

Tsuna's eyelids felt like lead. Every part of his body ached. Darkness enveloped him, hugged him, caressed him, whispering to him that he should never leave, never leave, never leave…

"Leave it… we've already come past this spot."

"Just wanted to make sure…"

The voices were drifting away, but Tsuna still couldn't lift his eyelids. It was warm—was he in bed? The blanket was awfully heavy; the air was musty.

"I feel bad for the kids of Namimori… They're taking so much crap these days…"

"I know, right? First the murder, and then a bomb… lucky everyone else had evacuated the building… only this classroom."

"From the third floor… I'm not too hopeful about finding many survivors… ten dead already…"

"Just once more… Anyone here?"

_I'm here!_

_I'm here…_

_I'm…_

"…here…" Tsuna finally opened his eyes, which were raked by a thin ray of sun. Above him, the sky was black—no; not black; his sky was a pile of rubble held up only by a support beam of what used to be the school building. What he thought was his blanket was a body—Yamamoto's.

With the little strength he had, Tsuna rolled the body off of himself. He turned his head far enough to be able to look at Yamamoto's face: bloody, disheveled, and pale. For a moment, Tsuna's heart stopped.

"Yamamoto?"

No part of Yamamoto's body moved.

_Is this my fault?_

"Yamamoto… please…_ please…_"

Yamamoto's eyelids flickered. Tsuna closed his eyes, too tired to even sigh in relief.

"Tsuna…" murmured Yamamoto. "You're… safe?"

"Don't talk," Tsuna replied hoarsely. "D-don't worry, w-we'll be fine…"

"Not worrying," Yamamoto said, closing his eyes. A ghost of a smile graced his lips, and his broken hand patted Tsuna's weakly. "With you… not worried… trust you…"

As Yamamoto slipped back into unconsciousness, Tsuna turned his head in the other direction. Inches away lay Gokudera, and on top of him, someone with burnt red-golden hair. Who had red-gold hair like that? Tsuna never remembered seeing someone like that… but golden hair… only one person he knew had that shade…

"Dino… sensei?"

Without him knowing it, Tsuna's hand rose to Dino's head. Just brief contact with his hair, and his hand came away stained with blood. Undeterred, Tsuna moved aside Dino's hair.

For a moment, Tsuna was confused. Had Dino put on a mask during all the confusion? Gently, with morbid curiousity, Tsuna touched it…

"God, no…"

It wasn't a mask. It was just burnt flesh, burnt black until bone shone through.

XxX

"God, _no!_"

With a yelp, 26-year-old Yamamoto dropped his phone.

"T-Tsuna, are you alright?"

Tsuna was taking deep, shuddering breaths, sweat pouring down his face. He took a look at his shaking hands, and a shiver ran through his body.

"Y-yeah… just… a bad dream…"

"You sure? You wanna talk about it?" Yamamoto said, his face a mask of concern. "Your face is grey…"

The car they were riding in ran over a pit hole, and in the backseat, Tsuna received a little jolt that cleared his thoughts a bit. He shook his head, accepting the bottle of water passed to him from the middle seat. "No, I'm fine. Just… just a dream about the past… with Gokudera and the bombs… Dino as well…"

Yamamoto nodded his head. "I got you." He patted Tsuna gently on the shoulder, offering him a grin. "Don't worry about it! We're in the present, now, not in the past. That stuff is over and done with."

"Having dreams about me again, Tsuna?" Dino called from the middle seat of the car. Getting up on his knees, Dino poked his grinning face over the seat. The older Dino wore his bangs low over the left side of his face, now, to hide the scars left behind from that incident.

Tsuna laughed a bit. "Don't get too full of yourself, Dino. How long was I asleep for?"

"Maybe thirty minutes. We'll be at Squalo's in another hour, maybe. You can go back to sleep on my shoulder!" said Yamamoto.

Exhausted, Tsuna rested his head on the taller man's shoulder. "I'll do that… wake me up if I start having nightmares again…"

Yamamoto chuckled and ruffled Tsuna's hair, Dino reaching over the seat and doing the same. "Will do."

_To myself of ten years ago,_

_How are you faring now? Have you managed to change the future? What I saw was a dream of the past, something that will happen to you if you don't begin to believe in and trust yourself. _

_Please, I hope you have taken my warnings seriously. I hope Yamada is still alive, that Yamamoto's mother is still living. But, knowing myself of ten years ago, this all may not be so. In the end, I have, after sending my letter, no control over our life. Fate rests in your hands. _

_Please, change it._

Feeling safe next to his friend of ten years, Tsuna managed a small smile that went unnoticed. Autumn leaves fluttered past the window, the last of their kind at that time, saying a sad farewell to that which had never been, to that which would never be.

* * *

_Lolol last chapter's response wasn't that great… but hey, I deserved it._

_Hopefully, this chapter is better! Tell me what you think :)_

**_To clarify: _**_16 year old Tsuna has just clipped the orange wire. After the line break is a dream 26 year old Tsuna is having of what happened in his past. So, where the building collapses is part of 26 year old Tsuna's past, NOT of 16 year old Tsuna's future. Confusing, right? In the end, Dino is shown to be OK in 26 year old Tsuna's time, though he has a scar, which he hides with his hair. Hope that clears things up :)_

_Until next time~_


	5. Eye

_**To clarify: **16 year old Tsuna has just clipped the orange wire. After the line break is a dream 26 year old Tsuna is having of what happened in his past. So, where the building collapses is part of 26 year old Tsuna's past, NOT of 16 year old Tsuna's future. Confusing, right? In the end, Dino is shown to be OK in 26 year old Tsuna's time, though he has a scar, which he hides with his hair. Hope that clears things up :)_

_In case you missed the explanation I put in the last chapter (I added it in after people started saying they were confused), there it is above :)_

* * *

"Byakuran, I told you _not_ to use that bomb!"

"Calm down, Shou-chan," Byakuran replied, tossing a marshmallow into his mouth. The youth's face glowed in excitement, his purple eyes gleaming in satisfaction as he watched class 3-B through the cameras he had placed in the classroom in advance. He twirled in his chair, laughing a bit, as his red-haired companion wrung his hands beside him.

"People will _die_ if he gets it wrong!" 'Shou-chan' said shrilly.

"That's what people do."

"How can you just play with people's lives like that!?"

The chair suddenly halted. Byakuran blinked slowly and smiled languidly at Shou-chan, purple eyes shining with a strange light.

"Because they played with mine. And yours, too. Did you forget?"

"Shouichi… better not to say anything," a blond boy beside Shouichi said as the red-head opened his mouth furiously. "Nothing we can do about it now…"

"How can you two be so calm about this?" Shouichi shrieked, clasping his stomach. "I can feel the ulcers burning through my stomach already! And yet, you guys are just calmly watching the self-destruction of class 3-B!"

"Oh, oh, that's the wrong wire," Byakuran breathed, eyes riveted on the screen. "Oh, dear—seems like we'll have a pretty report to write up when this is all over."

Shouichi's hand darted out for the intercom button, but Byakuran beat him to it; in a flash, the white-haired boy shot the button, destroying Shouichi's only way of contacting the class.

"Why—"

Byakuran pointed his gun at Shouichi. "If they die, it'll be because of their own incompetence. Besides, the way the bombs in the classroom are set up puts Tsunayoshi-kun and his little friends in the least amount of danger. You know that wire 'bomb' is just a control center for the explosives I've placed in the room. I don't care about the normal people, but I won't kill potential recruits, Shou-chan, especially not against _orders."_

Seething, Shouichi looked ready to slam his fist across Byakuran's face, but an exclamation from Spanner caused them both to look around at the screen.

"Look, the small mouse-y kid—Tsunayoshi-kun grabbed it from Gokudera-san."

"Oh!" Byakuran murmured, leaning in close. "Now this is interesting. I wonder what he'll do? Too bad I can't zoom in on his facial expressions… that would be really funny, don't you think, Shou-chan?"

"No," said Shouichi flatly. "Not at all. Oh, god, my stomach…"

* * *

From Tsuna's sweating hands, the scissors and the bomb fell to the floor. Panting, he fell to the floor, knees too weak to support him.

The orange wire was in two pieces. The class was safe.

Tsuna wasn't sure of what happened next. There was another announcement, made from speakers set up in the room, and then a clicking noise from the door, and then the rest of the class was rushing out. Dino threw his jacket around Tsuna's shoulders, but the warmth went unnoticed, a permanent chill running perpetually throughout Tsuna. So petrified was he of his near brush with death that he couldn't stand, couldn't walk away from the dismantled bombs lying beside him. Yamamoto wouldn't remove himself from Tsuna's side; Gokudera sat next to Tsuna, green eyes fixed on the small boy's pale face like a cat's.

"C'mon, Sawada," Dino said gently. "Stand up; you can do it. Let's get you home and get your mother to feed you something nice and warm."

"Up we go, Tsuna," Yamamoto said. He pulled Tsuna to his feet and gave him a quick tight hug that conveyed messages words could not express.

Tottering on his feet, Tsuna was led from the classroom and down the three flights of stairs. The school was completely deserted; everyone was outside, some of them with their parents who had flown over upon hearing that their children were in danger.

"Not now," Dino said, holding up a hand to an officer who came running forward with a notebook. "Not now."

Saluting sharply, the officer marched away. Dino turned to Tsuna, smiling comfortingly. "Can you guys wait a moment? I'll call Romario to pick us up and take us home—er, well, to Tsuna's home. I'll contact your dad, Yamamoto, and… Gokudera… do you want to come with us?"

Gokudera's eyes moved insecurely from the ground to their faces.

"Yeah, he'll come!" Yamamoto said, slinging the arm not around Tsuna across Gokudera's shoulders. "He'll definitely come along. Right, Gokudera?"

"I-is that… alright?"

Yamamoto blinked, and Dino's jaw dropped. Dino quickly fumbled for his phone.

"Y-yeah! I'll call Tsuna's mom and tell her we'll be there in a bit… gotta call my superiors first, though, if you guys could wait a bit…"

"Hey, that's my pops," Yamamoto said suddenly. "I'll be right back, you guys."

Leaving Tsuna and Gokudera alone together, Yamamoto ran over to his father, who hugged him tightly. On his own, Tsuna stumbled and almost fell. Before Gokudera could catch him, another strong grip held him in place. Tsuna looked up at the person who had caught him, blinded momentarily by the sight of sunlight illuminating bright, white hair.

"Be careful now," the other boy said. "Don't want you getting hurt, now do we?"

"T-Thank you…"

"H-Hey, let's go," a red-head said, pushing Byakuran forward. "Before the Ninth and Uni get mad at us…"

As they walked away, a blond boy took a curious peek at Tsuna with smoldering blue eyes before following after the other two. Tsuna rubbed his arm where the white-haired boy had grabbed him.

"Are… you okay?"

Tsuna jumped, startled, and stared at Gokudera, who turned his pink face away in embarrassment.

Awkwardly, Tsuna stammered, "Y-yeah, I'm f-fine. And you? A-Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me," Gokudera said gruffly. "I'm fine."

"Hey, you ready to go? Where's Yamamoto?"

Dino had finished his phonecalls and had come over. Seeing Tsuna looking pale, he said quickly, "Do you need to drop by the hospital, Tsuna? We can do that."

Tsuna shook his head. Yamamoto was coming back, his father waving good-bye with a relieved look on his face. "No. I just… I just want to go home…"

* * *

"I want all the information you have on all the murders that have happened in Japan that were caused by slit throats."

"I'm sorry, sir, but we cannot hand that information out to just anyone."

Reborn simply stared down his nose at the slowly wilting lady. Her purple suit made her look even more like a dying flower. Her brown eyes slid to the side; a slight blush came over her face under Reborn's intense stare.

Smirking, Reborn leaned in close. In a deep, mellow voice, he said, "I'll ask again. Will you give me the information you have on slit-throat murders?"

He rubbed a strand of the lady's hair in between his fingers. She almost fell out of her chair in her haste to back away. Red as a tomato, she hurried off to the back of the building. Satisfied, Reborn lounged on the counter, casting a lazy eye over the documents spread across the lady's desk.

He had come all the way from Namimori to Tokyo, where the Vongola Police Headquarters, the main police web of Japan, was located. He wasn't going to leave until he had gleaned all the information he could possibly get.

The files he was looking at listed the names of several convicted criminals. He scanned them quickly, committing them to memory in case he needed to pull out the names on the spot in the future.

Not supposed to be doing this sort of work, he reminded himself. Timoteo assigned me to a therapist post and told me to take a break from this sort of work.

Too bad, the other side of him scoffed. Can't stop me.

Kuroko Haruo

Yukio Jiro

Yamanaka Kaoru

Rokudo Mukuro

Xanxus

"Xanxus got himself into trouble again?" Reborn sighed, readjusting his fedora. "I won't bother asking… last time, it was just a minor assault… threw a steak at a waiter, didn't he?"

Bermuda von Vichtenstein

John Smith

Jerry Guo

Samantha Hiro

"S-sir, here are the files you requested."

Reborn lifted his eyes, smiling at the lady, who blushed even harder. "Thank you."

"P-please just remove the ones you need and give the others to me… and be sure to bring them back by tomorrow."

"I will," Reborn assured her. He took a seat in the lounge under the gaze of the lady and crossed his legs.

First in the files was Yamada Haruto.

"Died at 16 years of age… cause of death was blood loss… slit throat, stomach cut open, appendix was missing…" Reborn frowned. "Appendix? Maybe he just had it removed when he was younger."

Hospital records for Yamada indicated that he had never had his appendix removed. Reborn filed this information away.

Next, Reborn took a look at the victim from Kokuyo High. The boy's name was Kurosaki Rito, seventeen years old. Cause of death: blood loss…

"Slit throat, radial bone of the right arm removed… What on earth?"

Next in the file was a woman named Umi Chihiro from Tokyo. Her throat had been slit, but no body part had been taking. A sneaking suspicion rising, Reborn set her aside. To that pile he added several more persons who had had only their throats slit, but nothing else harmed.

"And here's the next one," Reborn murmured. "From Shibuya, Ori Ichigo, throat slit, stomach cut open, duodenal section of the small intestine removed…"

Sifting through the files, Reborn found two others who had died under similar circumstances. The rest he deemed to be normal murders, unrelated to the case. He returned these to the lady, then drifted back, deep in thought, to the lounge.

"Appendix, duodenum, radius, ulna, and masseter muscle… all of these were removed… but why? And how…"

His vibrating phone interrupted his thoughts. Dino was calling him.

"This had better be important… What do you want, Dino?"

"A-Ah, Reborn? Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Shut up and just tell me what you want."

"W-well, Namimori was almost bombed…"

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that from Timoteo. Don't worry, it was all planned. No one would have gotten hurt in the end."

"What do you mean it was planned?"

"Just one of Timoteo's tests," Reborn said disinterestedly. "Though, thinking on it, I take back what I said about nobody dying. I wouldn't put it past Byakuran to blow the place up and kill some innocent people along the way."

"Wait, you know that psycho—"

"Listen, I'm a bit busy right now, so I'll call you back. Actually, just pick me up. I'm in Tokyo, Vongola Headquarters."

"I'm all the way in Namimori, Reborn—"

"Great. See you in an hour or so. Later."

Collecting the important files, Reborn tipped his head to the lady and left the Headquarters, stepping out into the light drizzle that had started up.

* * *

"…could have called me earlier," Dino grumbled. "I had to drop off Sawada and his friends off in a hurry because you wanted me to pick you up."

Reborn snorted. He jerked the steering wheel of the black Ferrari, jumping around a car being driven by a small old lady.

"H-hey, could you slow—?"

"No," Reborn smirked. "Now, about the investigations. Any progress?"

Dino sighed and ruffled his hair. "I knew you would ask that. We just got another autopsy report…"

"I know. Slit throat, missing appendix. Right?"

"…Can I ask how you found this out?"

Reborn shrugged. "Because of reasons. Did I miss anything?"

"Reborn, you're supposed to be on break from your duties," Dino said exasperatedly.

"It's boring," Reborn said obstinately. The traffic light turned yellow. Reborn slammed his foot on the accelerator, running the red light.

"Reborn!" Dino said, flabbergasted. "I'm a police officer! You can't just run red lights in front of me!"

"I can do whatever I want," Reborn said smugly. Dino opened his mouth to protest, but gasped as a gun was put up against the side of his head.

"You're not supposed to have a gun!"

The revolver clicked. "I can do whatever I want."

"Y-Yes, sir."

Reborn repeated his question calmly as he swerved around a child running across the road. Dino turned pale green.

"Well, you were right about the appendix… but, they found a marshmallow stuffed into his stomach."

"Impossible," Reborn said. "Stomach acid would have dissolved it."

Dino shook his head. "It was taken out of him at the murder site. It was half-dissolved. They sent it in to be tested."

"And?"

"No poison, nothing strange at all. It was just a marshmallow."

"Strange. That wasn't mentioned in his files."

"In his what?" Dino squawked. "Reborn, aren't you supposed to be on break? Why do you have this kid's files?"

"Just for reasons," Reborn said, smiling.

"Stop that creepy smile," Dino said. "It might make people think you're enjoying this."

"I am enjoying this," Reborn said. "I need some thrill in my life, okay? Life as a therapist isn't enough for me. Tell me more. Is there more?"

"Only what Sawada and Yamamoto had to say about the murderer," Dino said. "As of now, they are the only living witnesses."

"And what did they say?"

"He was tall, just about as tall as Yamamoto, and he was dressed in all white."

"And what about when they saw him? When did they see him?"

Dino frowned. "That's the part I don't get. School was let out at around three thirty. The day after Yamada died, I walked to his house from school to see how long it would take him to reach his house. On foot, it takes about thirty-five minutes. To the spot where he was killed, it takes thirty minutes."

"So, when he died, it was around four."

"Right." Dino nodded. "Sawada said said that it was seven forty when Yamada-san called him. He said that he and Yamamoto ran to Yamada's house. I got them to show me the way, and then ran from Sawada's house to Yamada's death location to see how long it took—fifteen minutes, if you sprint."

"Did they stop by anywhere on the way? Say, a store to see if Yamada was there?"

Dino shook his head. "No. They said they didn't."

Reborn smiled a little. "So, now the time is seven-fifty-five. Go on."

"Around seven-forty-five, Yamada-san called me. I was on the way home. She gave me directions to her house, so I drove as far as the small path leading to their neighborhood and then went on foot. I arrived at seven fifty two, and then caught up with Tsuna and Yamamoto a few minutes later. And then, from there, you know the story."

"So," Reborn said. "That leaves approximately four hours between Yamada's presumed death and the discovery of his body. You said Tsuna and the other kid saw the murderer passing by them? And then the murderer came back… How very interesting…"

"Why the murderer loitered around for four hours, is my question," Dino said.

"No," said Reborn. "Isn't there a question you should be asking before that?"

Dino frowned. "Like what? Like why is there a murderer in the first place? What's his motive?"

Reborn chuckled. "Think about it. Four hours. What could happen in four hours?"

"A murder? Obviously."

"Use your brain, idiot," Reborn said. "I didn't train you to be such an idiot."

"I'm sorry!"

"Look. Namimori is a big school, and Yamada lived in a fairly medium-sized neighborhood. The likelihood of him being the only high-schooler there is low. Why didn't any other student find him first?"

Dino frowned. "Maybe—well, I don't think there are any other students from his neighborhood…"

"Well, say that there aren't. Even then, it was almost eight when he was found. When is rush hour, the time when everyone comes home from work? From six to seven, wouldn't you say?"

"Right…"

"So what were the people coming home from work doing? They wouldn't have run over a child's body. And the people walking home from the bus, say, they wouldn't walk past a child's body. Don't you see? Thinking that Yamada died as soon as he got home is very unreasonable."

Dino said slowly, "Yeah…"

"How did they find the boy? Did they see anything?"

"Tsuna said that there had been a lot of blood running downhill with the rainwater."

"A recent kill, then. It couldn't have been long since Yamada had died."

"But then… what? That would mean that Yamada waited around for three or four hours before going home."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Really, you guys can't do anything without me," Reborn tsked. "Makes me wonder why Uni and Timoteo sent me to be a therapist for snotty nosed brats. It's made me decide that I'm going to investigate all of this myself."

"You can't—"

"I can do whatever I damn well please."

Reborn gave Dino a look. Dino shut up and was silent for a good while. Then, Reborn said, "You do actually realize what this means, right?"

"…No?"

"Pathetic," Reborn snorted. Dino cringed. "It means serial killings. All over Japan."

"What?"

"Take a look at these files. Everyone here was killed in the same way as Yamada. Slit throat, bled to death… and they all have something missing from their bodies."

"Missing?" Dino said, flipping through the papers. He swore. "Missing duodenum? Just what the hell?"

"It gets better," Reborn said. Upon seeing Dino's horrified look, Reborn cleared his throat. "I mean, worse. Check it out. Radius removed, ulna as well… how much painstaking work that must have—"

"Don't even—"

"Alright, but the point is that removing this stuff would take a long time, right?" Reborn said. "Are you starting to understand now?"

Dino stared at Reborn for a full minute before his face turned white. "Reborn… that can't be true. That's too… horrible."

"It is, isn't it?" Reborn said grimly. "Putting everything together… Tsuna and Yamamoto found Yamada's cadaver; blood was still running from it… a recent death. Yamada's appendix was removed; that means the killer must have taken it out while Yamada was still alive and then taken Yamada to the scene of death to kill him. In addition to that, nothing, no drugs or painkillers were found in Yamada's body in the autopsy… Yamada must have been fully awake during all of this."

"Stop… Reborn, you don't have to spell it all out…"

"It's fact, Dino," Reborn said softly. "It's what happened."

"How can people do these sorts of things…"

"Humans are twisted creatures," said Reborn. "Inside, each of us has a monster within a cage. Some cages are simply weaker than others…"

Dino groaned. "My own student… I let this happen…"

"False. You did not have anything to do with his death. Had it not been Yamada, it would have been some other."

Dino took a deep breath, eyes closed. "So, have you… figured anything out?"

"Not yet," Reborn said. "I need to think things over a bit more. For now, I'll tell Timoteo to station more officers out on the streets and around the schools. You keep an eye out, too, and contact me if you see anything suspicious."

"You don't need to tell me that," Dino said. He rubbed his temples, breathing deeply. "God, I still can't believe this… it's ridiculous… We need to find the serial murderer fast, before anyone else dies… like this…"

Reborn nodded. Dino flipped on the radio in the silence, opening the window a bit for fresh air. The news floated into the car as he set aside the morbid files he couldn't bear to read.

_"…regret to inform the listeners of another assault on a student from Kokuyo High. A witness of the attempted murder called the police in time to save the student; however, the student sustained life-threatening injuries to her throat, eye, and back—"_

Dino turned his head sharply. "Reborn, do you think…?"

"It must be," Reborn said. "Hush."

_"…advise the listeners to tune out if they are in the presence of minors during the revealing of these graphic details._

_"At approximately 12:43 p.m. today, senior student Umino Kojiro was walking back to Kokuyo High along with several of his friends. He recounts his story:_

_"'I was having lunch off campus with some friends,' a young boy's frightened voice said, 'when I heard this enormous commotion. I had this really bad feeling in my gut, and I looked to my side, where there was an alley… There was a man dressed in red in white—or maybe he was just dressed in white and had a bunch of blood all over him, I couldn't tell—fighting with one of my kouhais, a big knife in one hand, and in the other—in his other hand, I swear, he had her eye! T-they were fighting, and as we were calling the police, my kouhai almost broke free, but then the man stabbed her in the back twice… and he tried to slit her throat, but by that time, we were screaming for help. He ran before the police could get here in time… and, oh, god, there was just so much blood…'"_

"Enough," Reborn said. "I've heard enough. So this time, it's an eye?"

Dino rolled down the window more.

"Don't throw up," Reborn warned absentmindedly. He dialed a number in his phone and held it to his ear.

"Hello? Yeah, Colonello, it's me. Shut up; this is the last time I'll be asking a favor of you. I need to know where the victim at Kokuyo High is right now… which hospital. Transferred to Namimori Hospital? Good. Tell Timoteo to station guards around her room. Don't ask why, you idiot."

"Reborn, what are you—"

"Go there yourself, if possible. I have a bad feeling about all of this. I'll be there in… twenty minutes, max. Later."

"Reborn, what's going on?"

Reborn made a U-turn in the middle of the road. "We're heading to Namimori Hospital. I just have a bad feeling about that girl… Somehow, the murderer doesn't seem the type to just leave his victims alive…"

"So you think he's going to go finish her off?" Dino said, voice pitched higher than usual.

"Correct. You and I are going to stay there all night if necessary."

"Wonderful," Dino gulped. "I don't have my gun."

"I have a spare," Reborn said. "And extra bullets. Don't give me that look. You can never be too prepared."

**x**

Twenty minutes later, they had arrived at Namimori Hospital. They were rushed to the emergency room, where they found Colonello dressed, as ever, in a military uniform, standing with his back against the wall by the door.

"Been here since five minutes after your call," he yawned. "You owe me one, Reborn."

"I won't forget. Thanks. Anything happen?"

"No," Colonello said. "The girl needed blood transfusions and a kidney donor. The guy who attacked her managed to destroy both her kidneys."

"Has she found one?"

"Yeah. Some convict who was just released on bail was in the hospital when she was brought in. He heard about the situation and offered to donate one of his kidneys, since he had the same blood type and everything."

"Very kind of him," Reborn said distantly.

"His name was Rokudo Mukuro or something like that. He's in there with the girl," Colonello said, jerking his head in the direction of the emergency room.

Reborn's mind flashed back to the list he had read on the lady's desk. "Any other news?"

"No. Timoteo sent over some men. They'll be taking care of her room."

"Are you busy tonight?"

"I had a date with Lal scheduled," Colonello said uncomfortably. "But she got mad at me and canceled it. So yeah, I'm free."

Reborn snorted. "Keep watch with me tonight. I need some more input on the case anyways. Dino, you should go check up on Tsuna and the rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

"Maybe it's a message?" Colonello said, scowling. He downed the meager soup the hospital served them in three gulps, wiping his mouth. "Like, take the first letter of the victim's names and scramble them up…"

"I tried that already," Reborn said. "There are too many Y's for that to make sense."

"Maybe the Y's mean something, then?"

"No."

Reborn sighed and took off his fedora.

"Why did I even ask you for help? It's been 8 hours and all you were able to come up with were stupid comments like 'I'm hungry, thirsty; this is stupid…'"

While Colonello growled out insults, Reborn took a pen in hand and began to write out the body parts taken from the victims.

Eye

Appendix

Radius

Duodenum

Masseter

Ulna

"What could it mean?" he murmured.

"Hey! Reborn, are you listening?"

"No, shut up," Reborn replied automatically. "I'm thinking."

Taking the first letter of each word… EARDMU

"Reborn, really, listen, can't you hear—"

Rearrange them…

EARDMU

EARDUM

MAREDU

DUMARE

DEMURA

MUDARE

MDAREU

ERMDAU

ERMUAD

ERM—

"Reborn!" Colonello yelled, boxing Reborn's ears. Eyes stinging, Reborn cocked his gun, pointing it at Colonello, who didn't even flinch, but pointed up.

"Someone's in the hospital! Can't you hear?"

Reborn cocked his head, pistol still pointed at Colonello's head.

"Gunshots!" Colonello said. "It's that girl! She came out of the emergency room hours ago, but we forgot about her!"

Leaping to their feet, the two men dashed out the guest room and into the hallways. They could hear screams from the floors above. Praying to arrive in time, they darted up the stairs to the fifth story floor, where the girl was resting.

They came in time to see a man dressed in white dispose of the last of six guards surrounding a door. Reborn fired his gun, but the man ducked and ran for the stairs, and the bullets buried themselves into the walls. Wordlessly, Reborn and Colonello split up; Colonello pulled out two pistols and hounded after the man, and Reborn burst into the girl's room.

Hearing the steady noise of the heart monitor, Reborn relaxed a fraction. Just as he lowered his gun, a blade slammed into the wall opposite of him. He felt blood trickle down his ear and watched as a few strands of his hair fell to the ground.

"Who are you?" Reborn said in a flat tone.

"That, I do think," chuckled a soft voice, "should be my line, don't you think? What are you doing in my dear Chrome's bedroom?"

"Chrome? Is that the girl's name?"

"It's what I have named her."

A slender man with indigo hair moved into Reborn's line of vision.

"You must be Rokudo Mukuro."

"Good guess, and accurate," Mukuro said.

Reborn watched the man's fluid movements with dark eyes. Mukuro smiled, twirling a knife in between his fingers.

"How are you moving around so soon after your surgery?"

"I pride myself on my health. Such pride comes when you have survived death six times. Now, then, please, answer my question. Who are you?"

"Not an enemy," answered Reborn. "But not necessarily your friend either. I'm here to protect 'Chrome.'"

"Ah," Mukuro said. "Excellent. Then, for now, we are on the same side. I thought you might have been the man who attacked her… my apologies."

The door burst open at that moment, revealing a disheveled Colonello.

"Reborn!"

"Colonello. Did you catch him?"

Colonello shook his head. "He was too fast. He got away. We have the police patrolling the area."

"Did you get a good look at his face, at least?"

Colonello shook his head. "He was wearing a mask. Completely white and circular."

Reborn sighed. "We'll stay here, then, for tonight. We can sleep in the extra beds. You won't mind?"

Mukuro smiled. "Of course not."

Colonello offered to take first watch. The rest of them settled themselves in the empty beds surrounding Chrome's. Before sleeping, Reborn checked Tsuna's blog.

[May 7

I changed the future. At least, I think I did.

I did it. Just like what the letter told me. I believed in myself.

That's all for now. I'm exhausted.

—Tsuna]

_There's another thing I need to do,_ Reborn thought to himself as Mukuro switched off the lights. _I still have to make an appointment with Tsuna and find out just what on earth is going on with him. What letter_ has_ he been talking about? _

[Tsuna, we need to talk, as soon as possible. Tell me when we can meet, and I will make room for you. Don't walk around by yourself anymore. Tell everyone else, too. No one is safe.

—Reborn]

Scattered raindrops began to drum lightly against the window pane. Chrome's heart monitor beeped softly, regularly.

Light from the lamp-post outside streamed in through the curtain-framed window. It danced on Chrome's pale face, casting shadows on the thick bandages around her neck. Like glow sticks, the tubes sticking out of her thin body shone ethereally as they reflected the light coming in.

Reborn thought that he saw a shadow flickering in the corner of the room. But perhaps it was just a trick of the light.

Colonello drew the curtains, choking off that light.

In darkness, they waited.

* * *

_Wow, super fast updates these days! The next chapter probably won't come out as quickly since half of this and the last chapter had already been written. Expect maybe two weeks before the next update!_

_Thanks all of you for the support! Makes my day :) After early decisions for college and not being able to go to Big Bang's concert in LA (at least we're on the same continent now LOL), I feel like TAT_

_ Reviews would be lovely~ _XD

_Everyone have a nice day!_


	6. Choose Your Own Death

OMAKE  
Author-san would like to interject a few words concerning her own personal woes, which will explain her long, long absence. If you would not wish to read this tale of love, despair, and joy, please skip down to the next page break.

As you may know, Author-san was applying for colleges this year. If you didn't, you know now! Remember it! It's tough applying for college; it's hard, and only when you do it do you understand! Only then do you experience true fear of…

REJECTION!

Anyways, Author-san had just finished writing her essays, many of which had been slaughtered by her mother in the blink of an eye.

"Write it again! This is disgusting! This is boring! You stupid!"

Author-san silently wept as she wrote her 30th essay.

Finally, Author-san had completed. The date was December 31st. Most colleges required that the application be submitted by January first. Author-san was ahead of the game! Except, she did not take advantage of this, because she wanted to sleep and then rewrite her essays a bit. As such, when New Year's Day rolled around, Author-san took a picture of herself with a sign saying HAPPY NEW YEAR, as if the fact that it were New Year's Day weren't obvious already, and posted it on the obscenely popular website for animals much more social than Author-san called Facebook.

Author-san, feeling accomplished, closed her laptop. She slid it underneath her bed. She got into the bed and entered a deep, deep sleep.

Waking up, she discovered that she had plenty of time! She went down to eat and enjoyed a tasty meal of who-knows-what and then went upstairs. Her laptop was waiting calmly for her, and she opened it up, humming to herself a bit as she pressed random keys to wake it up. Only after a half-minute passed did she realize that _nothing was happening._

"No. _No._"

She frantically pressed the power button as if her life depended on it. She stuck the charger in, but even this failsafe… failed! The laptop was already running, but the screen remained as black as… night! Because there was no other way to describe its darkness, and consequently, the darkness of her future other than it was blacker than the night with no moon or stars or streetlamps or whatever other light there could be! It was like the day without a sun—but that's called the night!

Not even the power button would turn the laptop off, so Author-san flipped her laptop over and popped out the battery, wincing as it furthered her woes by smashing her toes. Lame rhymes aside, she was devastated by the situation. She quietly laid the laptop aside with the gentleness she'd use on a deceased comrade's body and went back downstairs to eat more.

Nothing done to the laptop would fix it. It was a tragedy. It was January first, and she was supposed to submit her applications, and her laptop just went and decided that it would become a body with no soul, just like that! What a way to start the year! Was this a premonition? Would Author-san, in the coming year, follow in the footsteps of her laptop? She didn't want to turn into a vegetable!

Author-san shed mental tears as her father packaged the laptop and sent it to some obscure place in CA that fixed computers. Goodbye, my friend, goodbye…

As a replacement, she was forced to use an old VAIO that was perhaps about 7 years old. That's almost half as old as Author-san, you know! Author-san is aging, but she is not quite ancient yet! The VAIO worked hard, like the little engine that could, but it was inferior to the MacBook Pro (from 2008) that Author-san coveted! Yes, the VAIO was like the little engine that could, working hard to run programs and to speedily open webpages, but! In the end, there was only so much that it could do! It was a comparison of the turtle racing against the hare, the VAIO (7 years old) vs the Mac (5 years old), but in the end, sometimes, the turtle did not win! Sometimes, the little engine that could became the little engine that couldn't!

Author-san managed to turn her applications on time, having printed out several copies of her essays prior to the event of doom and misfortune. She sighed a breath of relief, feeling the weight of panic fly off her chest… only to have the weight of ANXIETY AND DESPAIR crush her like a 1000-ton rock.

And it seemed as if there were no hope for her laptop! It was like the sun had gone from the day, but as we said, that might as well just be called the night! Yes, her days were dark. She lamented over the timeline she had created for her 26 to 16 story, or, better said, the FOUR TIMELINES SHE HAD WORKED HARD IN CREATING. PRESENT, WITH LETTER; PRESENT, WITHOUT LETTER; FUTURE; AND ? which is a secret. A SECRET!

Her muse cackled wildly as it dangled over her head and as she desperately reached for it.

One week passed. Two. Then three. The laptop was not mentioned. It was like a deceased acquaintance no one ever spoke of again. RIP MacBook Pro 2013.

RIP.

_RIP._

The sound of a package being ripped open.

"Oh, man! I can't believe they fixed it! I thought it was gone for good!"

Hearing these words, Author-san literally leaped from her chair and sprinted to the foyer, where her father was holding—could it be—_could it be_—!

"MY LAPTOP. GIMME. OH MY GOD, I'VE MISSED YOU SO. YOU WERE MY TRUE LOVE. YOU ARE STILL MY TRUE LOVE. COME HERE, MY BABY."

Of course, all this was said in Author-san's head. Author-san merely threw her hands up in the air in excitement upon seeing the silver creature in her father's hands.

It was like the reunion of Romeo and Juliet, only many, many times happier and without the suicides. So, in short, it was not like Romeo and Juliet at all.

Author-san's entire family crowded around the harried laptop as Author-san put her finger on the power button and pressed it. Dramatically, breaths were held. And then…

Voila.

The screen

Was

Turning

On

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The joy could not be expressed.

All files remained intact.

The beautiful sun had returned to the day! It was like a birthday! Except, Author-san never gets presents on her birthday, so it was even better than a birthday! In short, it wasn't like a birthday at all! It was just…

Beautiful!

Author-san is working hard. She has a paper due in French on Friday about two books, one of which she has yet to read. She may pull an all-nighter! An all-nighter!

Except she loves sleep too much, so she will not. She will just. Shed tears as she labors deep into the night.

Anyways, Author-san now presents to you—a short scene. One that will shake the grounds. That will strike fear into you, Reader-san, your heart. Or not. It is not that wonderful. She is not expecting many responses, except for a 8I face perhaps as Reader-san thinks _I waited months for this?_

Author-san bows in apology.

Without further ado…

I bring you: Chapter 6.

Was that anti-climactic or what?

If you don't remember: Recap: Tsuna, Dino, and Yamamoto in the future are heading to Varia mansion. Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Tsuna in the present are staying at Tsuna's house for the time being. Mukuro had just escaped along with Chrome from under Reborn and Colonello's watch. And that is all. I do believe.

* * *

"Breathe—please, breathe! Squalo! Xanxus!"

"It's no good, Tsuna," Yamamoto said. Tsuna looked up pleadingly, begging him to say something else other than what he was about to say. "They're gone."

Slamming his fists into the soggy ground, Tsuna clenched his teeth. He wanted to scream, but his lungs would not work. Frozen in the winter air, there was nothing they could do. He couldn't breathe.

_Turn back time, _he begged. _Let me live life again. Please, anything…_

Upon reaching Varia headquarters, they were greeted by a pillar of smoke rising from the once-grand mansion. Running out of the car, they saw a light burst in the forest.

Carefully, Tsuna entered the forest. The rain was coming down hard, now. Most of the trees had lost their leaves already, so they were soaked through in a matter of minutes. Lightning illuminated the dark path; thunder rolled out; Tsuna stumbled and saw a flash of silver…

"God, _no_," he heard Dino say behind him. "No, no, _no._"

Somehow, Tsuna already knew what it was that Dino had seen.

"Squalo!"

As Yamamoto helped Tsuna to his feet, Dino ran forward to the motionless body slumped against a tree.

"…We have to find the rest," Tsuna said tonelessly.

"Tsuna?"

"The rest of them. The Varia. They're here, too."

Tsuna shook Yamamoto's hands off.

"It's happened again… because of me… everyone's dying…"

"Don't say that, Tsuna," Yamamoto pleaded. "Get a grip on yourself… come on, they might not be dead…"

Yamamoto knew he was saying a lie. They had found Shamal in his office in the same state as Squalo—bloody, slumped against a wall. Shamal was buried now, next to Gokudera.

"Squalo… come on, Squalo…"

Something warm was falling on Tsuna's face. He brought his hand up to wipe it, but Yamamoto caught his hand.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Tsuna saw Yamamoto swallow and look up. Tsuna raised his face; something heavy fell into his eyes. He rubbed it out. His hand came away tainted in red. He stared into the branches of the tree for a moment before realizing what it was that he was seeing—then he turned on his heel and ran.

"Tsuna! Tsuna, stop! We have to stay together!"

The rain pounding in his ears served to isolate him from the rest of the world. He ran blindly, until a hooded figure stepped out into his path, followed by a man he knew well.

"Reborn!"

"Don't move," the hooded figure warned. "Or I will end all of your lives with the press of this button."

Tsuna stopped short, staring at the detonator in the man's hands. Behind him, Yamamoto and Dino had just caught up, panting heavily.

"Well then, since the audience is now complete…"

"Tsuna, what's going on? Who's that man beside Reborn?"

"He," Reborn said, "is the man orchestrating all of this. According to him, there is a bomb right underneath us, so it would be wise for us to not make a false move."

"Correct," the man chuckled. "Very much so. It would also do you well to listen to what I say. After all, I have no qualms in ending my life if it means the end of all of yours. I just… want to make sure this happens the way I want it to."

"What do you mean?" Tsuna yelled. "What more do you want?"

"My… fun? You could call it that for now. But, back to the present task. Yamamoto Takeshi, if you could pull out your gun."

Yamamoto made no move.

"Your gun, please."

"Do it," Reborn said. "Do it already."

Shaking, Yamamoto pulled out his pistol.

"Now then, raise it."

He raised it eye-level.

"If you would, please point it at Reborn, Yamamoto-san."

"No!" Tsuna burst out. His feet darted forward, and a shrill noise burst into the ear that paralyzed him.

"That was the warning buzzer," the man said. "You only get one. Yamamoto-san."

Reborn nodded at Yamamoto, and he obeyed.

"Pull the trigger."

It wasn't frightening, listening to the thunder roar. The rain pelted against their bodies; their clothes stuck tightly to their skins; the water blinded them.

It wasn't frightening, looking down the barrel of the gun. Nor was it exhilarating. Reborn couldn't quite put a finger on the emotion that was roiling all inside him as he looked coolly at Yamamoto Takeshi, the man pointing a pistol in his face.

"Please, stop them! Don't make Yamamoto do this! Reborn, d-don't just stand there…"

Reborn held his hand up in Tsuna's direction. "It can't be helped. I never thought that I would die a decent death anyways. Yamamoto, don't look so sad."

Despite Reborn's words, tears fell from Yamamoto's eyes as his shaking hands held the pistol steady. At least, he assumed that they were tears. He couldn't be sure, what with all the rain.

But, he enjoyed the idea that someone would be crying for him…

"Just shoot already."

Reborn could see Tsuna in the corner of his eye. His poor student was as white as a sheet.

Reborn took a step towards Yamamoto. The man was like a statue, his pistol held eye-level in both hands. Reborn smiled. Perfect form, just as he had taught Yamamoto.

He took another step.

"I guess before I go, I should say a few last words, right?" Reborn said as calmly as he would during a normal conversation. "Well, first, to the man orchestrating all of this and who caused the deaths of Gokudera, Mukuro, Chrome, Irie, Spanner, Shamal, Uni, and Timoteo, and whoever else I have no time to mention—just know that I've raised my student well.

"Second, to Dino, my ex-apprentice," Reborn said, taking another step. "Hold your head up high, and proudly. Protect Tsuna as you would a brother. Know that I am proud of you, despite what I say to you every day.

"Third, Yamamoto. Bear no guilt, shame, or regret. My death today is my own choice, not your causing, not your failure. I have trained you well, and I could not be more proud of you.

"Fourth," Reborn said, taking his final step. "Tsuna. It has been a pleasure knowing you. You… are the one I am the most proud of. Don't give in to despair, and never lose the pride you have—your pride, which you will come to understand soon."

"Reborn," Tsuna begged. "Please, no."

Reborn gave him a dry smile. "I am ready to die, Tsuna. Goodbye."

Before anyone could say another word, he reached out and grabbed Yamamoto's hands, making sure to point the gun directly at a vital point of his body. He felt Yamamoto rebel against his movements, but he was stronger than the other boy—no, not a boy anymore, he chided himself. Yamamoto was a man. A man, just like Tsuna and Dino. They were all grown up now.

If there was just one thing Reborn would regret… it would be never being able to see them make their names. But he was sure they would go far… he was sure that Tsuna would be able to capture this man… he only hoped that Tsuna would not be alone at the end of this entire ordeal.

Reborn had lived long enough. He was ready for death. He embraced it. He had seen enough of the world. He kept telling himself this, even though his heart fluttered like a caged hummingbird, begging him to not die, not end his life…

Was he frightened?

It didn't matter.

He steeled himself, bringing his consciousness back to reality. He felt Yamamoto's warm hands struggling underneath his own, saw Tsuna from his peripheral vision moving to stop him, heard Dino yelling obscenities.

Eyes closing, Reborn took a final breath before pulling the trigger himself.

* * *

[May 8 8:55 a.m.

Nothing much happened today or yesterday. Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, and Dino-san all stayed over after the bomb ordeal. Surprisingly, Gokudera-kun actually slept over as well, though I think he did that to not be rude to mom.

Actually, I'm surprised that Gokudera-kun even came at all. I thought he hated me and Yamamoto—and Dino. While Yamamoto and I were brushing our teeth, we talked about it a bit—Yamamoto said that he seriously thought that Gokudera is actually lonely and that he probably came over because he was lonely and also because he owed his life to me.

Owes his life to me? I don't think so… I think we all owe our lives to him, but I didn't do anything…

Anyways, Yamamoto is surprisingly perceptive, I think. Like, no offense to him, but he's sort of like an airhead… carefree and easy-going, but he actually understands people really well. The class always comes to him with their problems. Haha, Yamamoto's amazing.

I think the future is changing. I wonder what's going to happen to me now, now that everything's different. The letter said that I was in a coma for 3 days and that Reborn came to see me. Which is weird, I think. Reborn caring enough to come see me in the hospital… what is the world coming to…

I'm taking the bomb ordeal much better than I thought I would. Now that it's over, I think I've managed to push it into the back of my mind. I had nightmares last night… the usual ones, with Yamada-kun but also of everyone else dying…

I hope that my future self now has a few less regrets in his life…

…I wonder if things are going to happen in the same way? Like, since the school is still whole…

I skipped ahead in the letter a bit, and it said that after we got out of the hospital, everyone was transferred to Shimon High. I wonder what that place is like? Apparently, I really liked it. I even made a new friend, whose name begins with an E… in the letter, it said he was like my brother.

I wonder if I'll still be able to meet him.

Anyways, I think this entry is long enough. And I don't think I'm making very much sense. I'll be off to eat breakfast, then.

Everyone, stay safe!

—Tsuna]

* * *

_Thank you for sticking with me till now! I will try to reply to all the reviews, but no promises X( I appreciate all feedback and support and will continue to work hard!_

_Everyone, stay safe!_


	7. Dreams

_Haha, I have to say, reading all your guesses about the killer's identity was really amusing! Not in a mean way, but it was interesting to see how people analyzed the past events and what sorts of things different people noticed. But, I'm gonna tell you right now that the killer is… someone who won't be revealed by me yet! That will be revealed in… the future chapters ;)_

_I took a suggestion from a reviewer, **Lightning515.** From now on, I will make it more clear whether I am in the future or the past by denoting it with 16 at the beginning of present passages and 26 at the beginning of future ones. Hope this helps clear things up!_

* * *

**16**

Reborn was a little peeved when he woke up the next day. Part of the reason was that the sun had already risen—his usual routine began with him waking up just before the crack of dawn, however early it may be. Another part of the reason was because he had had the strangest dream, something about him shooting himself in the head, and it left him with a searing headache. And the last part of the reason was that he had failed to do his duty of standing watch the previous night.

But probably the main reason he was so angry was that the girl and Mukuro had disappeared.

Colonello as well was a little peeved when he woke up. Part of the reason was that it was half past five, and the sun had just barely risen. His schedule commenced with him rising exactly a half hour after six. Another part of the reason was because Lal still had not texted him, saying that she forgave his sorry excuse for a brain. And the last part of the reason was that he had failed to do his duty of standing watch the previous night.

But probably the main reason he was so angry was that Reborn was pointing a gun in his face.

Colonello fought his urges to pounce on Reborn and lay him out flat on the floor and pummel him to a bloody death.

"Why. Did you wake me up. So early."

The gun clicked as Reborn took the safety off.

"Please explain to me why Rokudo Mukuro and that girl are gone."

"And I should know why?"

"You were sleeping right next to the door."

"And this insinuates what?"

"You are a top-notch soldier who was also trained in the same Stealth and Assassination class as I was. The noise of the door opening and closing should have been _more than enough_ to wake you up."

"Right back at you."

Reborn sighed imperceptibly, stowed his gun away, and put his fedora on his head.

"We've slipped."

"It's sad, hey."

Reborn walked to the window. The young sun cast a silhouette—tall, slender, and black.

"It seems like as we age, our skills deteriorate, hey."

"We're only 23."

"Hey, 23 doesn't last forever."

Reborn took a silent breath just as his phone began vibrating. He looked at the caller ID, fully prepared to ignore the call if it wasn't important.

_Incoming call  
Sawada Iemitsu_

Reborn tsked.

"What's up?" Colonello asked, noticing the annoyance on Reborn's face.

"Iemitsu," Reborn replied, distaste lacing his voice. "After all this time… he calls now…"

"Still on bad terms with him?"

"I'm on bad terms with everyone. Shut up and let me take his call."

Before Reborn could even say hello, that annoying voice cut over him.

_"Yooo, Reborn, how're you doing?"_

"What do you want," Reborn said flatly. "I'm in no mood for your retarded mumblings. And I do hope that you are sober right now, because I believe that last time you called me while inebriated was quite irritating and made me shoot my phone out of sheer frustration."

_"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I'm sober. You can ask Lal. She's right next to me."_

Colonello perked up.

_"And if Colonello's there, tell him Lal's still pissed."_

Colonello deflated. Reborn smirked.

"What do you want."

_"Well, not much! Just want to check up on my cute son."_

"You can call Nana for that."

_"Nana thinks I'm still in an area without reception!"_

"I will go to an area without reception for calls from Sawada Iemitsu."

_"So mean today, Reborn!" _

"Like I said, I'm in no mood for your moronic antics. Please get to the point."

_"Alright, alright, you spoil-sport. Listen, don't tell my cute son this, but I'll be coming home in a few days."_

"May I ask why?"

_"…because of reasons."_

"You realize that every time you come 'home' you bring trouble with you, don't you?"

_"Yes, well, this time, the trouble is—well, it's uhm… very troublesome. Hasn't Timoteo told you about it yet?"_

"…Oh," Reborn deadpanned. "I understand now. So I guess this means that my days as a therapist are coming to a close finally?"

_"Yep."_

"And yet despite this, I will have to continue seeing your good-for-nothing son."

_"He's not good-for-nothing! He's cute and cute and also cu—"_

"Goodbye."

Without further ado, Reborn ended the call.

"Hey, what was that about?"

Had Reborn been a normal, weak-willed person with average discipline and composure, he would have let out a long, long groan. But being Reborn, he simply readjusted his fedora a little more tersely than usual and began to polish and repolish his gun.

Finally, after his gun was gleaming like the morning sun, Reborn raised it eye-level.

"Timoteo's got brain cancer."

Colonello quickly opened the window so Reborn could point his gun out of it.

"I have to train Iemitsu's good-for-nothing son to be the next leader of the Vongola Police Department."

As Colonello laughed at Reborn's misfortune, bullets went flying through the window.

Blowing the smoke away, Reborn muttered, "I can't tell whether I'd prefer to be a therapist."

* * *

It was May 8, and Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Dino were in the middle of having one of Nana's delicious breakfasts when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Nana said.

As she hurried away, a skip in her step, Dino started waving his fork around to get the others' attention.

"You know," he said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs, which promptly went flying onto the table. "Whoops, sorry."

"Weren't you ever taught to not talk with your mouth full?" Gokudera seethed.

Dino shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin. "Anyways, you know, Gokudera, I never thought you'd get along with everyone so well."

Gokudera's fork made a loud _bang _as it hit the plate violently. Dino quickly apologized.

"I-If I can ask as your concerned teacher, why did you agree to come?"

Gokudera muttered something under his breath Dino wasn't quite able to catch.

"What's that?"

"He said he's lonely!" Yamamoto laughed, clapping Gokudera on the back so hard that he choked. "Isn't that right, Gokudera?"

"NO," Gokudera snarled.

"Whoa there—you could stab somebody with that fork if you keep flinging it around."

Begrudgingly, as if he dearly wanted to stab somebody with his fork by flinging it around, Gokudera sent the prongs into a woeful slice of bacon.

"I came because of the Tenth."

"What?"

"The Tenth."

Confused, the other three exchanged glances with each other.

"Him."

Gokudera punctuated this word with a less-forceful jab that was accompanied by an air of respect towards Tsuna, who squealed and toppled off his chair.

"You mean Tsuna?"

"You mean Sawada?"

"I mean the Tenth."

Dino blinked a bit as Tsuna re-situated himself. "Why are you calling him the Tenth? Sawada, are you some sort of long-lost descendant to a throne that you never revealed?"

"No!"

"He's the Tenth because he's the Tenth," Gokudera said gruffly. "Like how this idiot there is baseball idiot and that idiot there is the Bucking Horse, he's the Tenth."

"I'm not an idiot—"

"Tenth is Tenth because he diffused the tenth bomb."

Dino blinked.

"That's surprisingly… anti-climatic."

Yamamoto laughed. "Oh, I get it now. You're just too shy to call us by our real names, so you came up with these cool nicknames for us."

"NO. And what part of baseball idiot is cool!?"

"Thanks, I feel so touched!"

Before Gokudera could lunge across the table to grab the sharpest object in the room, Tsuna hastily squeaked, "SO I WONDER where mom is, because she's taking a long time."

"Why don't you go see while I, uh," Dino said, snatching the knife from Gokudera's reaching fingers, "handle this knife masterfully by twirling it like a baton—oops!"

The knife went flying across the room, but was caught deftly by a man suited in black.

"No need," he said. "It's just me. I was talking to Nana."

"Reborn!"

Reborn tipped his head in acknowledgement, casting sharp black eyes over the foursome.

"I never thought that my good-for-nothing client would have so many friends over at once. Or have so many friends in the first place, really."

"R-Reborn!"

Reborn tossed the knife back onto the table.

"Tsuna, come with me. I need to talk to you for a bit."

"R-Reborn?"

"Is that the only word you can say?" Reborn snapped. "Ever since I stepped into this room it's been 'Reborn! Reborn! Reborn!' Are you my fanclub? I don't need more men in there. I already have enough women on my tail as is."

"Would you like some coffee, Reborn-san?" Nana asked gently. "You seem rather crabby today."

"I would love to have some coffee," Reborn answered. "Immediately, if possible. I feel a withdrawal headache starting up. Now, you. In here. With me. Alone."

"R-R-Reborn, uh…"

"Stop stuttering, or I'll really shoot you," Reborn said as he led the way to the adjacent room. "I am in no mood for your stupid, good-for-nothing words. In fact, I feel that it is an incredible waste of time even looking at your pathetic face."

"T-that hurts."

"That's unimportant. Now, that letter."

Tsuna flinched.

"I don't have time to talk to you about it now, because I have to run and see Timo—someone as soon as possible. I'm free on May 10, and you will be, too, so we will meet then, at 5 p.m. Understand?"

"O-Okay."

"Good. And keep your nose out of trouble. I don't want more on my plate than there is already. Now, get back in there and eat your breakfast."

Nana had a fresh cup of coffee waiting for him, brewed to perfection. Graciously, he accepted it. She giggled and handed him a small sprig of purple violets in a vase of water to 'spruce up his office.'

As he left, he allowed himself a small smile while breathing in the glorious fumes of the coffee.

Addiction is a powerful thing.

Now, he thought, frowning a little at the violets in his hands. How to walk with a vase of violets while simultaneously still looking cool?

* * *

School was off that day, so the three boys lounged around the house for a bit without Dino, who apologetically said that he had to report to the police station. Yamamoto, after calling his father, said that he could stay for however long while Gokudera just muttered something about how his parents wouldn't care and wouldn't know anyways. Knowing that family matters were a touchy subject—at least to Tsuna—Tsuna didn't question Gokudera's, instead pulling out a few video games. He started them up and gave the two controllers to his two guests, just watching them play and listening to their idle conversation from his comfortable perch on the bed.

"How come you call Dino-sensei 'Bucking Horse,' Gokudera?" Yamamoto probed.

"Because he's Bucking Horse," Gokudera grunted. He swore violently and made rude gestures at the TV when his character blew to bits.

"No, but why is he Bucking Horse?"

Gokudera gave and aggravated sigh and tossed the controller to Tsuna. "We used to train at the same police station."

"You what?!" Yamamoto yelped, killing his own character.

"You what?!" Tsuna squealed, toppling off his bed.

"What?" Gokudera said, completely confused.

"You trained at a police station? Since when?!"

"How else do you think I became an expert at diffusing bombs?" Gokudera said as if he were disgusted by Yamamoto's stupidity. "I was trained at Tokyo Headquarters ever since I was eight, when I ran away from home."

"You ran away… from home? And moreover, when you were just eight?"

"Yeah. I ran, and my doctor—some sleazebag called Shamal—introduced me to this old geezer called Timoteo, who's the head of Japan's police institution today, and I got to start training as a potential police/detective/whatever. I ended up becoming a bomb specialist, as you can hopefully deduce."

"Wow… that's amazing, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna breathed in awe. Gokudera spluttered something about how he wasn't that great and turned beet red, and Yamamoto laughed.

"And so, how does Dino-sensei play into this?"

"Heard about him all the time when I was there." Gokudera scowled as if remembering such things brought distaste to his mouth. "'Bucking Horse broke another fire alarm, Bucking Horse managed to blow up the entire gun-stock, Bucking Horse managed to set Timoteo's underpants on fire…'"

"What?!"

"Exactly. Whoever this Bucking Horse was, I thought that he should definitely be kicked out, or strung up over the highway from the nearest bridge," Gokudera growled. "But then…" he said, a strange expression passing over his face, "That man came."

"That man?"

Gokudera nodded. "He is the elite of the elite. He is the world's best assassin, best officer, best detective. He has an IQ of over 200, and he has never failed in any of his missions. The Ninth—"

"The Ninth?"

"Will you stop interrupting!" Gokudera howled. "How can you not know who the Ninth is? The Ninth is Timoteo, you dumbass! He's the Ninth head of Japan's police institution like I just said, and you had better remember it!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Yamamoto hastily said. Seething, Gokudera apologized to Tsuna for being so loud and grudgingly continued his story.

"He came upon the Ninth's invitation to tutor that good-for-nothing Bucking Horse Dino. From what I heard, his training was hell. He made him scale Mt. Fuji in just a day—"

"Wow!"

"—and forced him to dodge bullets while blindfolded."

"That's nuts!"

"What a fun game!"

"Tsu-kun! Do you want lunch?" Nana poked her head in to say, fortunately saving Yamamoto from Gokudera, who was making lunges to wrap his fingers around Yamamoto's neck. "I made some soup and some sandwiches."

"That sounds great!" Yamamoto cheered. "Your food is always awesome, Sawada-san."

"My," Nana said, blushing. "What a nice child. Wait here, and I'll bring it up."

After lunch, Yamamoto said that he should probably head out and help his father. Gokudera claimed that he needed to do some maintenance on certain objects (Tsuna thought he heard dynamite, but he couldn't be sure), and he left after bowing a dozen times to both Tsuna and his mother for their kindness and hospitality.

Tsuna did some grocery shopping for Nana, and the rest of the day passed uneventfully, a much needed reprieve from the week's tumultuous events. Before bed, Tsuna checked his blog to see that he had two new comments—one from Reborn and one from the strange visitor BBBB.

Comments:

[You had better not forget about our appointment tomorrow. Also, tell Nana that the coffee was very much appreciated. —Reborn]

[Tsunayoshi-kun, I hope you are doing well! ! ! ! ! ! I think we will be able to meet each other soon! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Actually, we already have, but you just didn't realize~ Sorry for inserting so many ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I am on a sugar high right now! ! ! ! ! ! See you soon! —BBBB]

XxX

**BlogChat900****: ****_[RR]_**_ has started chatting you [__**ST**__]_

RR: Tsuna, stop.

ST: huh? i was just aboutt o go to bed

RR: Yes, I know. That is why I told you to stop.

ST: oh. ok. whats up?

RR: Is that how you would talk to someone older than you?

ST: Sorry! It's just htat I… well never mind. What do you need?

RR: The second comment on your latest post—have you any idea who it might be?

ST: no, sorry…

ST: i was wondering that myself

ST: he sort of just commented out of the blue and i was like lol what's oging on

ST: it's the first time hes talked to me

ST: i mean, well, commented

ST: ive seen him lurking around the chat sometimes

RR: Ah.

ST: ?

RR: Nothing. I was simply making an observation.

ST: about what?

RR: An observation observing that there was simply nothing to observe.

ST: uhhhh, ok…. can i go to bed now? i'm really tired

RR: No. I have another question.

ST: …ok

RR: Who else knows about this blog?

ST: uhhh…. No one reall,y orher than you and apparently BBBB

ST: I havn't given it out to any of my firends

ST: ugh, friends, sorry. I'm kind of tired

ST: there are a few moer who read it but i've enver met them, so

RR: Fine. And whatever happened to confidentiality?

RR: You went on and on about how you wouldn't mention names on your blog and then all of a sudden, you start throwing names left and right.

ST: Oh

ST: whoops

ST: uh

ST: i can… fxi that if you want…

ST: I just sort of fortog in the heat of thisng

ST: like everytihnd ghta'tsl been happenting recenging

ST * like with everything that's been happening recently

RR: What a useless, incorrigible child you are.

ST: …

ST: oh yeah, how are the cases going?

ST: with you know… Yamada's

RR: Still looking for more clues. I am waiting eagerly for our meeting tomorrow. I have a feeling that it will throw some light on some things.

ST: …How?

RR: Go to sleep.

ST: …

ST: Are you sure? dont you have other weiosnt?

ST: questions

RR: No, it is fine. I hardly think that you would be able to answer them in your state. Or in any state, really.

ST: somehow, i feel like that might have been an insult

ST: but alright… see you tomorrow, then, reborn!

ST: gnite

**_[ST]_**_has logged off_

**_[RR]_**_ has left the chat_

Tsuna, after leaving, decided he would read the next day's letter. He brought out the crinkled papers, smoothing them out. May 10. Tomorrow.

_May 10_

_From May 8 to May 11, you were in a coma. The bombs had gone off, and you paid for it, as did many of your friends. Not all of them survived; in fact, the majority lost their lives. Dino was severely scarred. Yamamoto and Gokudera made it through. Critically injured, you spent the next three days in a deep sleep, recuperating._

_I have nothing to say here, other than… that I have one regret. Even after almost losing my friends, I never told them how important to me they were. I never expressed my gratitude. I was always too late. **I don't want you to be like this. **_

_People say that it is never too late, but it's not true. _

**_Remember this._**

* * *

Cozart Enma was a shy boy of sixteen, with burning red hair and eyes that made him the subject of vicious bullying that often left him with more bruises than he could count. They called him names like demon and monster and told him that red eyes brought bad luck. They invited him to jump to his death from the nearest bridge, and more than once, he found himself standing on the railings of one, looking down at the river or a highway.

More bullying material was extracted from his past: he was an orphan living in a small institution called "The Simon Orphanage." He barely had any items to his name. He possessed no special skills other than that of being worst at everything; he was poor; he was weak; and he was alone.

The last statement wasn't completely true. He had six friends, all of whom had lived at one point at the same orphanage as he did, though they were all older than he and in college or with work; seven if he counted the man running the institution: Genkishi.

Genkishi himself had been raised at the orphanage by Enma's father. Due to several unfortunate events, Enma's father and mother had both died, leaving the orphanage in Genkishi's hands. He'd been in charge for about eight years so far. He was kind to the orphans, especially to Enma, stating often that he 'owed his life' to Enma's father and would never let the children down.

Enma hated his life at school but loved it at what he called 'home,' where he was accepted and loved by both Genkishi and the younger children. He had long found equilibrium between the two sides of his life, and he was comfortable with it, despite having to bear with the abuse from school.

His equilibrium was ruined May 9, the day a box full of bombs arrived at the door of one of the classrooms in Shimon High. He was filed out of the school along with nearly all the students, crammed onto the soccer field, and then forced to watch as one building of the school went up in an explosion so violent it rocked the school grounds.

That's how he found himself being transferred to the nearest school: Namimori High.

It was May 10, and Enma found himself looking at a nearly empty classroom. The goof of a teacher—Dino, was that his name?—grinned at him apologetically and gave him a brief description of what had gone on—something about a bomb scare, identical to the one at Shimon. Only here, the bombs didn't explode.

"And your name?" Dino-sensei prompted.

"…"

"Sorry, what?"

"…Enma."

Dino laughed and clapped Enma on the back. "No need to be so shy! Say it loud and proud!"

Enma shrank back, blocking the view of the classroom with his messy bangs. "…"

"Uh, well, okay," Dino said, a little perturbed. "Well, class, this is Cozart Enma! Please take care of him. Your seat is… next to Yamamoto! If you could raise your hand, Yamamoto."

"I'm Yamamoto! Nice to meet you."

Enma gave a stiff nod and sank into his chair. He clocked out for the majority of the lessons, simply observing his surroundings and flagging the people he thought would benefit him to avoid.

A fierce-eyed girl sat in the center of the room, her black hair tinged with a dark blue. He pegged her as someone who was uninterested in the affairs of others and who would neither bother him nor help him.

In the rightmost back corner, there sat a surly-looking boy who looked as if his nose had been broken on more than one occasion. Pops rippled through the air as he cracked his knuckles. For a split second, their gazes met, and Enma quickly averted his eyes, making his presence even smaller. That was one to definitely be avoided.

Directly to his right was a small, mousy looking boy with chocolate brown eyes. He looked weak. Enma figured he didn't have to worry about his neighbor.

He went through the remaining students, five others, taking note of the silver-haired kid in the back who sat with his legs propped up on his desk.

Then, for the rest of the day, he zoned out, only coming back to reality when Dino started talking about something mildly interesting.

"Well, since… it looks like no one is really paying attention to me, let's learn about something different! I bet you all have thought once in a while, 'ah, I really messed up that time! I wish I could go back in time and redo it. But that's impossible, you think. There's no way to do that. But, I think it's possible to build a time machine."

Enma noticed the boy beside him with brown hair straighten up suddenly in his seat, eyes riveted on Dino. Why was he so interested? Enma shrugged and turned his attention back to Dino.

"But first, to build one, we would need something that could move at the speed of light. By applying Einstein's theory of relativity, this is how you could explain time travel theoretically. And this is a theory based on improbable, but still possible, facts.

"A black hole… if one were to create a black hole, I think it's possible to time travel. Black holes have an immense gravitational pull. It's a force that swallows everything. What would happen if you were swallowed by a black hole? There is a theory that time travel is possible through the time-space distortion caused by the black hole's enormous gravitation."

"Dino-sensei, I've heard that time travel should be impossible," the fierce-eyed girl spoke up. "If we could temporarily travel in time, what kind of inconsistencies would occur? For example, if you went back into the past and changed things you wanted to change, in the future that you changed, there would be no need to go back in time. And then, what about the you that used the machine in the first place? Wouldn't he not exist anymore?"

"Well," Dino said, smiling. "That is what you call a time paradox. There are many scholars who use that theory to negate time travel, but there are ways to not create a paradox or inconsistencies. And that… is what we call a 'parallel world.'

"The inconsistency lies with the idea that there is only one past and one future. But a parallel world can create numerous branches of the past and the future. But in developing a new past, you would be creating a new future, but it wouldn't influence any other futures that you might have. For clarification…"

Dino began writing on the board:

A (present)  
1) action 1 = B future  
B future goes back to A  
2) action 2 instead of action 1 = C future  
B future still exists while C future continues independently

"In this way, you prevent inconsistencies. There…"

At that moment the bell rang, and with a smile, Dino dismissed them.

"Okay…"

As soon as the bell had rung, Enma slumped into his seat, ready to spend the next hour alone, just resting his head on his desk. He closed his eyes.

"Hey! Enma, right?"

"Huh…?"

A hand settled on his shoulder. His eyes opened, blinking a couple times before settling on the friendly athletic boy who sat behind him. Yamamoto gave him a grin, eyes locking with his.

"It's lunchtime, now," Yamamoto was saying. Enma blinked. He found that everyone, upon seeing his red eyes, had a reaction—a flinch, a disgusted look, averted eyes. Every time it happened it hurt a little, reminding him that he was a freak. But not once had Yamamoto broken eye contact with Enma. Confused, the redhead searched for signs of hidden disgust, but he couldn't find any.

"Do you want to eat lunch with us? My friends and I usually go up to the roof to eat lunch, and since you're new and all, I thought that maybe you'd want to have company or something like that."

How had he known? Or rather, why did he care? No one had for the entirety of Enma's school life, but all of a sudden, now…

Was it a ruse to isolate him in order to bully him? Or was this boy just being friendly? Since he was new, no one should know about Enma's past… there was no reason, no _real_ reason to begin bullying him right away, but not many people needed a _real_ reason for abuse.

"Quit poking your nose into everyone's business, baseball-freak."

Enma looked up to see the silver-haired boy glaring at him. Silver hair. Was it natural? His red eyes clashed with the other boy's green ones. Yamamoto laughed and slung an easy arm around the other boy's shoulders; he sputtered in disgust and leaped away.

The shyer brunette came up to the group and cleared his throat a bit. "Y-you don't have to if you don't want to. But, we just… want you to know that you can if you'd like. But we're not pressuring you or anything like that!"

Enma looked at Yamamoto for a split second before turning his eyes to the brown-haired boy. There was an earnestness in his eyes he had seen only in those of his father, a look that warmed him and made him relax in this strange environment. The boy offered him a small smile, and Enma let his eyes drop to the floor.

"I'll come," he said quietly. "If that's okay with you all."

Yamamoto's grin nearly split his face in two.

XxX

"It feels so nice up here!" Yamamoto said, breathing in deeply. The wind whisked around them, playing with their hair as they filed out onto the rooftop.

"I just hope that Hibari-san isn't around," Tsuna gulped, looking around nervously. Yamamoto laughed and slung his arm around Tsuna's shoulder.

"Let's eat over there," Yamamoto suggested, pointing to the rusty fence. "We'll have an awesome view of everything."

As the other three settled themselves down, Yamamoto moved until he was standing right next to the fence. With a small smile, he looked over the edge.

"Y-Yamamoto? What are you…?"

Yamamoto leaned his arms against the top of the fence. The wind played against his black hair and the sunlight struck a strange gleam from his brown eyes. The fence groaned in protest under his weight. Tsuna was suddenly hit by a stroke of anxiety, and he got to his feet.

"Yamamoto?"

The fence creaked. Gokudera had stopped opening his bento, green eyes flickering between Yamamoto and the fence.

"You know," Yamamoto said breezily, "I had a couple of dreams in the past few days."

No one said anything.

"In one of them, I was standing on the other side of this fence with my arm in a cast or something. Somehow, the rest of the class was up here, too, watching me. It was really weird, very real, almost as if it were happening to me, but just in a different world… like an alternate world. And, in the other dream, I was standing on Namimori Bridge."

Namimori Bridge. A location that had suddenly become a popular suicide spot in their quiet town. The previous year, two people had leaped to their deaths by jumping off the bridge and into the Namimori River. Tsuna shuddered suddenly.

"It was really strange. It was autumn time, and I was watching all the leaves flow down the river. I was standing on the rails, and Tsuna was there—you were screaming bloody murder at me to not jump, haha!"

Yamamoto's laugh rang emptily in the wind. He moved his eyes to the horizon.

"Someone shot me in the leg, but somehow I was still standing on the edge of the railing. There was blood dripping from the bridge and into the river. And then you, Tsuna, you were screaming all of a sudden, and I turned around and you were bleeding from the arm."

Yamamoto moved away from the fence, and Tsuna released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Well, that was just a dream. I'm hungry now. Sushi, anyone?"

A strange feeling left in the air, the four of them continued in silence until Gokudera spoke.

"And the ending?"

Yamamoto paused. "What ending?"

"On the school roof and on the bridge. What happened in the end?"

There was such a long silence that Tsuna squirmed uneasily in his spot.

Finally, Yamamoto laughed and smiled. "Well, in the first dream, I was saved by Tsuna."

"And the second?"

The question came from Enma. Gokudera was staring at Yamamoto with such an intense look that Tsuna thought Yamamoto would burn up and away. But the other boy simply flashed his teeth in a carefree grin and shrugged.

"I jumped."

Silence reigned, overcome only by the even lonelier noise of the wind rushing past their ears. Those two words chilled them to the bone for reasons they could not explain. Tsuna shivered, mind jumping to his letter, to his future self, wondering if Yamamoto's dream had any connection to what would happen in his future.

But was it really his future, now? Thinking upon what Dino had explained in class that day, was it really still his own future? Since he was already changing the present—or his future's past—shouldn't the contents of the letter be changing accordingly? Or perhaps, it should disappear entirely? But instead, it hadn't changed at all…

An alternate universe, alternate timeline… didn't that mean that once he started changing his past now, he would have a different future?

And consequently, didn't that mean that nothing would change for the Tsuna who had sent him his letter?

So that meant…

…where 26 year old Tsuna was in the original timeline, everyone was still…

…dead?

Tension having fallen, Yamamoto and Gokudera had returned to a one-sided bickering contest as Enma silently watched, legs pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them. A small smile flickered on his lips, eyes seeming to light up—a beautiful, deep crimson, more radiant than the dying sun. Gokudera, deep, deep down, was enjoying himself, and Yamamoto's infectious laugh rang out into the air. Normally, his laugh would warm Tsuna's heart and bring a smile to his own face, but now—now, it just sent an icicle through his lungs—

Losing all of this… these precious people… was unimaginable.

Tsuna's vision blurred. And himself, ten years in the original future… would continue living without these people? There was nothing Tsuna could do to help him? There was nothing Tsuna could do to prevent the pain and regret…

"—na? Tsuna? Are you okay?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Tsuna quickly wiped his eyes and gave them a weedy grin. "Sorry… there was just… something in my eye."

"How dare a piece of dirt fly into the Tenth's eyes," Tsuna thought he heard Gokudera snarl.

"Must've been a pretty large piece of dirt!" Yamamoto laughed. "But c'mon, you can tell us the truth, Tsuna. It wasn't really dirt, was it?"

There Yamamoto was again, with his random, amazing perception. Something that future Tsuna surely was missing…

"No, no, it really was just dirt!" Tsuna tried to chuckle. "A-anyways, Enma-kun, do you not have lunch? Do you want some of mine? Mom made too much."

Enma looked shocked for a moment, and then his shoulders drooped. "If… that's okay… I don't want to be trouble…"

"Not at all," Tsuna said, dumping half of his bento box's contents on its lid before sliding it over to Enma. "We're friends, after all—er, I mean, I think we're friends anyways. If-if that's okay."

Enma's eyes flickered up to meet Tsuna's. His gaze lingered for a long moment before his eyes dropped. A small smile slowly rose on his face and he nodded wordlessly.

"Isn't that great!" Yamamoto laughed. "Right, Gokudera?"

Gokudera muttered, "What a pain." But he scooped out a portion of his own lunch and added it to the box as Yamamoto also contributed a few rolls of sushi.

Perhaps Enma also, like Tsuna, had gotten a little dirt in his eyes, for he, too, was rubbing them furiously, and his sleeve came away wet. Head bowed low, he said in a small, strangled voice:

"Thank you."

* * *

**26**

_It's going to be alright._

_It's going to be alright._

_It will be alright._

But Tsuna knew it was not going to be alright as he watched the coffin be lowered into the ground. A few days had passed since the incident. The Varia had all been buried earlier that day. The only one left was Reborn, the man he respected with his life… the man who taught him all he knew…

"…Reborn was a great man to all who knew him, mightily respected…"

Wasn't this just so nostalgic? Hadn't he heard lines like these so many times? First, Yamada, then Gokudera, Mukuro, and now Reborn…

His phone beeped.

Ignoring the looks of indignation, the whispers, the glares—_Reborn wouldn't care_—Tsuna brought out his phone. One new text message. From an unknown sender.

_Come to Namimori Bridge. Alone. _

Tsuna's head whipped up. Everyone else was listening intently to the pastor's words—except Yamamoto, who also was holding his phone in his hand. Wordlessly they nodded to each other, and they melted out of the crowd, walking side by side, leaving Dino behind.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" Yamamoto said presently. "Grey… looks like it's about to rain."

"Yeah," Tsuna said.

In almost no time at all, they had arrived at the bridge. It was an old bridge, made of wood with railings on both sides, keeping the inattentive wanderer from toppling over the sides and falling into Namimori River. Over the years, there had been an increase in the number of suicides in this spot, and despite signs and the occasional patroller, they would not stop. Now, the bridge was near-to-abandoned, people viewing it as a thing of bad luck.

It was empty. The river roared beneath it.

"Say, Yamamoto…" Tsuna said hesitantly.

"Hm?"

"I never got to properly say this, but…"

"But I do believe it is time for you to leave."

Whirling around at the voice, they saw the same hooded figure who had caused Reborn's death.

"You!"

"Me. No, no, that will not do at all," the hooded man tsked when Tsuna pulled out a gun. "Not at all. Put it down."

"There's no way I will until I kill you with my own two hands," Tsuna snarled, tears rising to his eyes. "Do you know how much you've made me—everyone—suffer?"

"And do you know how much I have suffered?" the man murmured. "It is too bad, but I plan on living until I exact my revenge."

"What revenge?"

The man shrugged. "You'll find out in due time. As for now, my only preoccupation is your torment… a small penitence for what you have done to me in the past."

"I've done nothing to you!"

"You did _everything_ to me. Now, enough chit-chat. I currently have your mother's house rigged with bombs. Would you like to test my words for truth?"

Gritting his teeth, Tsuna dropped his gun. Why was he so powerless against this man? Again and again, he was always being cornered like this! To the point where he could do nothing but watch helplessly as his friends were picked off one by one.

"Now, then…"

Rain was beginning to fall. How cliché, Tsuna thought to himself bitterly. In times like this did the weather choose to storm.

It was like a dream. Yamamoto was climbing onto the railing of the bridge, water soaking through his black suit. Tsuna was screaming—screaming bloody murder, telling him _don't jump, don't leave, don't listen to him_. The man shot Yamamoto in the leg. He toppled, nearly falling, but kept his balance. Blood mixed with the rainwater and sloshed down from the bridge and into the roaring river.

In a rush of adrenaline, Tsuna snatched up his gun and fired a few rounds at the man. Blood blossomed from the man's shoulder, but then excruciating pain shot up Tsuna's arm, and he screamed: he'd been shot. He saw Yamamoto look back at him as the man pointed his gun to the side of Tsuna's head. The message was clear:

_Jump, or he dies._

It was always like this. His friends, one after the other, throwing their lives away to save his. He, insignificant in the world, was the cause of all their deaths. He, undeserving of their friendship, was forcing them to cast away their dreams, their hopes, their futures.

Yamamoto just smiled at him. And then he was gone.

The man left. Tsuna ran down the bank to the river, calling uselessly for Yamamoto. It was futile. An instant death. Gone forever.

His howls ripped through the wind, muted almost instantly by the crashing river and the pounding rain. Like his screams of anguish were worthless, insignificant, unworthy of being heard by anyone other than himself.

And here was another regret added to his list. More words that would be forever unheard by their intended recipient. Words lost, like his voice in the wind.

_"Say, Yamamoto. I never got to properly say this, but… Thank you for sticking with me for so long. I don't deserve it, and you've been such a good friend to me. No matter what kind of things happen to us, you always make it through with me and end up smiling in the end. I've always wanted to say it, but… you're special, you know that? You're like a calm rain that washes away everyone's fears and anxiety. And I really appreciate that. And, I know this is childish of me to say, and it's a little late, but…_

_"I hope we can stay this way forever._

_"As… best friends, you know?"_

* * *

_The above explanation of time travel is pretty much directly taken from ORANGE, by Takano Ichigo, with a few inserts from myself. Actually, it was that explanation that inspired me to turn ORANGE into a KHR version, since the idea of parallel worlds and time travel were essentially the same. I think time travel is really interesting! But then again, one of my friends said that "if there were time travel, we'd already know about it since people from the future would have come to this timeline already."_

_Saa, who knows? And who knows if time travel will actually be good for us… if we could change the past as we know it, would we be happy? We could stop mass murders, perhaps, like the Holocaust, but then what would happen without that essential piece of history? The event that changed the world? We might end up in an idealized world, one that is perfect and without mistakes, but what life is there in a world like that? Without mistakes, we can't move forward… and being able to simply turn back time to redo anything would lift weights from our shoulders that would otherwise cause us to think carefully about our decisions._

_Anyways, I'm getting too philosophical here. Hope this update was fast (and long) enough! WOW this chapter is really long! _

_And WOW Tsuna's future really... sucks._

_..._

_Yeah, essentially that sums it up. Heheh, I have future Tsuna's ending passage all written up already... and man, was it depressing to write. _

_Teehee look forward to the next chapter... where the killer will finally make an appearance..._

_Who do you think it is?_

_Take care, everyone~_


	8. Revenge

**26**

When Tsuna next woke, he was in the hospital.

Dino, noticing Tsuna and Yamamoto's long absence, had found him lying next to the river, and he'd called 911 immediately. The ambulance came and took Tsuna away, but Dino stayed behind, realizing something was amiss. He arrived later, in time to catch Tsuna throwing his sheets off the bed, trying to get out.

"Calm down," Dino said, struggling to keep Tsuna down on the bed. "It's okay now. You're safe."

Tsuna trashed in protest, eyes wide, breaths heavy. "No—no one is—Yamamoto—did you find him?"

Dino's eyes dimmed. "Yes."

The life went out of Tsuna's limbs and he collapsed back onto the bed.

"He was right next to me—and I couldn't do anything. The killer was right next to me, and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't—"

Dino could do nothing but hold him tightly. His heart ached for Tsuna, who was like a little brother to him. He was only twenty-six, and yet so many terrible things had happened to him…

"Some other people are here to see you," Dino said gently when Tsuna seemed to calm down. "I think you'll be glad to see them. I'll come back later, okay? I have to settle some things."

Tsuna nodded. Dino left the room, and almost immediately, an explosion rocked his eardrums as a flurry of red, white, and yellow attacked him.

"Tsunayoshi-kun!"

"Tsuna-kun!"

"Y-You three!"

Accidentally, Spanner clocked him in the eye with a lollipop as his close friends Byakuran and Shouichi crowded the bed.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Shouichi babbled. "We were so worried! Well, this guy here wasn't so worried, but… I was! So much that I had to take anti-acid for my stomach every hour!"

"I knew Tsunayoshi-kun wouldn't die," Byakuran said almost smugly. Elbows on the bed, he smiled a cat-like grin at Tsuna, purple eyes gleaming. "And now… I'm sure he knows why he won't die until the very end, too."

"What?" Shouichi said.

"It's true…" Tsuna said, avoiding Byakuran's violet eyes. "I understand now… I must have done something very wrong, but the murderer… he wants me to suffer before I die. And the way he's decided to make me suffer is to take all of you guys away from me, one by one."

Silence permeated the room. Spanner scratched the back of his head awkwardly and crunched the lollipop in his mouth.

"Well," Spanner said around the sucker, "rest assured, we'll stick around 'til the very end. Count on us."

Tsuna smiled, but a small part of him thought _how long will you last?_

Byakuran gave him a wide smile, as if he knew what Tsuna was thinking. He patted him on the head. Tsuna bit his lip, regretting thinking such a thing almost immediately.

"There, there, don't be like that, Tsunayoshi-kun."

Tsuna nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'll trust you guys. And before it's too late—thank you. For everything. You guys mean… mean a lot to me."

Byakuran's eyes crinkled up, and the grin he was giving Tsuna was absolutely blinding. Tsuna couldn't help but smile as well. Byakuran had changed so much after _that_ incident—he radiated such a refreshing, uplifting aura instead of the dark one Tsuna was so accustomed to from ten years ago. That incident from ten years ago had really changed the three of them…

As if he knew what Tsuna was thinking again, Byakuran slapped him on the back, lips curling up as Tsuna glared at him reproachfully.

"We have to go, now. Uni-chan wants to see you. Take care, Tsuna-kun!" Shouichi called, dragging the other two out of the room before they could make trouble.

"Actually, all I wanted to do was introduce you to your new partner," Uni said softly as she entered. "You four could have taken your time."

The breath caught in Tsuna's throat, pain jolting through his heart. New partner? As in, replacing Yamamoto? Wasn't this too soon? Bitterness was rising in Tsuna's mouth, the words 'disrespectful,' 'insensitive,' and 'cruel' on the tip of his tongue. He bit them back, knowing that Uni only meant the best for him. Getting a replacement for Yamamoto was better if it was done as soon as possible.

But still… to replace Yamamoto…

He wasn't something to just be replaced.

"This is Jagger-kun," Uni said. "He was recruited a few years ago, about five years after you entered the force."

"It's good to meet you, Sawada-san."

Jagger was a tall man with long, dark hair. His eyes were pale and gleamed strangely at Tsuna—a spine-chilling gaze.

"It's good to meet you, too," Tsuna finally said through the acid taste lingering on his lips. "Let me stand—"

"You stay where you are," Uni said firmly. "And don't move. I'll leave you two together. I have a few people to meet—Hibari is one of them. Take your time, and get well soon."

As Uni left, Jagger took a seat next to the bed.

"I am sorry to hear what has happened to you," Jagger said in a low, gravelly voice.

"Oh, er… you don't have to be."

Jagger shook his head slowly. "It… You are similar to me. Your story. I heard it from Uni-san in the car, about the deaths of your friends… and your regrets…"

His sibilant voice rested on the last syllable of 'regrets.'

"I have had an experience similar to yours… If you would allow me to tell you?"

"O-Of course," Tsuna said. "Go right ahead."

Jagger nodded. "I apologize for jumping it on you on our first meeting… but since Uni-san told me your story, I figured that it is only fair to let you know of mine."

xXx

There once were two brothers a year apart from each other in age.

Dirt. Filth. Squalor. It was all they had.

Pity. There was none.

On the streets, they'd run from those they had stolen from. They hid in crevices only they knew about. They cackled victoriously on each successful theft, washed each other's backs of blood when they were caught.

They lived like this for seven years.

The two brothers clung to life day after day. Some days were better than others. A can of soda. A half-eaten sandwich. Some days were worse than others. A bone. Nothing.

They took what they got. They took all they could.

Some of their neighbors—they called them neighbors since they lived right down the street—held out cans for coins, or signs for work. No one paid attention. The busy city went on, rumbling, groaning, squeaking, squealing. There was no time to pay any mind to two small homeless boys or their homeless neighbors who were scrabbling for life as the people around them walked on.

Then, he came. The one they called Checker Face.

He rounded up all the homeless people on that street and took them into his organization. It was a dark organization, for darker purposes that the brothers would not find out about for many years. One by one, their neighbors died, until they two were the only ones left. Checker Face congratulated them. Said he'd always known they would make it this far. They were the toughest of the bunch, the ones with the strongest will to live.

_Yes, yes, excellent_, he said. _Wonderful_.

It was Italy's biggest mafia group that the two brothers had joined. They worked for the poor and ruined the lives of the rich. The elder brother quickly became a master thief, but he forbade his younger brother ever from following in his footsteps. He instructed him to hide whenever Checker Face sent them out on a raid.

_You have a future. Don't get your hands dirty. Leave that to me._

When they were seventeen and sixteen, they escaped during a siege from the Italy police force. With the money he'd stolen, the older brother booked the soonest flight—to Japan.

There they lived. The older brother worked and forced the other to attend school. There was no contest. He continued to steal while the other got his education.

_One day, I'll pay you back,_ the younger brother said. _You won't have to do these things anymore._

He entered university.

Then, his brother finally got caught.

While breaking into a small home on the forgotten outskirts of town, the older brother was seen. The police rushed in, and in trying to capture him, they fired a few shots despite the orders of their superior. One bullet found its way into living flesh, taking the soul away. It was the mother of a small, red-headed boy.

The brother was jailed. He confessed to many crimes on his own initiative, and was given more time in prison. Meanwhile, the squad that had killed the mother was suddenly and completely annihilated. The perpetrator was determined to be the husband of the mother, and he was sentenced to death. Their child went to the orphanage the couple had run together, which was succeeded by a close, trusted friend.

When the brother finally got out of prison, almost immediately was he thrust into turmoil again. This time, people called him a murderer. They were sure of it. He was caught and jailed and sentenced to death. His brother came in, and he learned the truth—that his brother had been wrongly convicted.

Nothing he said would convince the jury otherwise. A few weeks later, his brother was dead.

xXx

Tsuna stared up at Jagger then looked quickly away.

"That's why I joined the police force," Jagger said. "To prevent such things from happening again."

"I'm… so sorry."

"He was everything to me, my brother was," Jagger said. "And all I'm left with after his death is regret. Regret that I could never pay him back. He did everything for me, but I never gave him the chance to live differently."

Tsuna closed his eyes. He knew the feeling of regret, of it being too late to do anything. He knew it too well.

"If I had only one more day," Jagger said, "one more day with him, I would make sure he enjoyed himself to the fullest. But I don't have one more day. I don't have anything. I only have my twisted sense of justice that I feel obligated to carry out. I want to stop people who destroy other people's futures at all costs. I want to catch Checker-Face, the root of all the problems that were thrust upon me and my brother. Prevent other people from feeling what I feel. I want my revenge.

"Will you help me, Sawada-san?"

His pale eyes bored into Tsuna's, like pits of white light…

"Of course," Tsuna said, keeping the gaze even. "I… also have experienced that feeling. Of course I want to help you."

Jagger smiled down at him. "Thank you. I will leave now. Please rest well."

Quietly, he left, and Tsuna remained in his hospital bed. He turned his head out the window. Jagger's words brought back memories of the deceased. He missed everyone. He missed everyone so much. If he could somehow bring them back…

If he could somehow turn back time…

Wishful thinking would get him nowhere.

Jagger's words stuck in his mind. _If I had only one more day with him, I would make sure he enjoyed himself to the fullest. But I don't have one more day. I don't have anything. I only have my twisted sense of justice that I feel obligated to carry out... I want to stop people who destroy other people's futures at all costs. Prevent other people from feeling what I feel. I want my revenge. _

_Will you help me, Sawada-san?_

Of course Tsuna would help Jagger. Of course he would.

Because he felt the exact same way.

He wanted his revenge. He wanted to catch this man, this man who was picking off his friends one by one as if they were fleas on a dog, as if they were nothing more than pieces of trash. He wanted to catch him, make him suffer, wanted to stop that man who had taken away the dreams of his friends. He wanted one more day with them all, but he wouldn't get one more day… he would never have one more day… instead, all he had was bitterness in his mouth and hot anger in his stomach…

Only thoughts of revenge.

* * *

_If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? —William Shakespeare_

* * *

**16**

It was a slow day, but finally, school ended. Dino told them that police officers had arrived to take them all home. Enough students were absent that the entire school could be escorted in groups of seven.

Dino stopped Tsuna at the door.

"You're going to Reborn's office, right?"

"H-huh?" Tsuna stammered. "Oh, yeah, right. I am."

"I'll take you there. I've been put on patrol in that area."

"Okay…"

Tsuna waved goodbye to Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Enma, who were being led out the classroom by Romario. Dino put a hand on Tsuna's shoulder and steered him to the parking lot. Tsuna suddenly realized something.

"Dino-sensei, how do you know Reborn?"

Dino looked surprised for a moment before grinning. "He's my mentor! That guy I'm always mentioning, you know?"

"Your mentor?" Tsuna gasped.

Laughing, Dino opened the car doors for Tsuna. "Yep! He taught me everything I know today, though it took him a long time to do that."

Tsuna sputtered like a landed fish. "Wait, but what? I thought he's only a therapist!"

"Oh, is that the story?" Dino said sheepishly. He started up the engine and they zoomed out into the road. "Crap, then I shouldn't have told you. Forget everything I said."

Profoundly confused, Tsuna furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of this new information.

"…how old are you, if I can ask?"

"I'm twenty!"

Tsuna spluttered. "That means Reborn is only three years older than you!"

"Reborn's a seasoned police officer, among other things. He began training when he was about seven, and then rose to the rank of an officer at the age of ten, as ridiculous as it sounds. It shouldn't be illegal, I know! But Reborn somehow… er, blackmailed, I guess you could say, his way into the police force. I was recruited when I was your age, and then when I was eighteen, he came and instructed me for a couple of years. Wait, crap," he cursed. "I wasn't supposed to say anything else on the matter. Don't tell Reborn I told you! He'll beat the crap out of me…"

"Wait, what? What? I'm so confused…"

"Don't make me say more than I already have," Dino groaned. "Get Reborn to explain it to you or something. We're here. Tell him I say hi for me, okay? And call me when you're done; I can drive you home."

Tsuna thanked him and hopped out of the car. He stared up at the tall building for a moment before taking a deep breath. His bag hung from his shoulders, and he opened it, making sure that he had not forgotten to bring the letters.

He wasn't sure he wanted this to be happening. He didn't want to have to explain everything from day 1, from when Yamamoto arrived to when Yamada died, to when the bombs came to his classroom door. But, he knew he had to. Reborn might figure something out; the murders might be stopped.

"Tsuna, good afternoon," Reborn said smoothly as Tsuna opened the door to the office. "How was school?"

"Strange," Tsuna admitted. "A lot of people stayed home, so it was basically empty."

Reborn nodded. "It makes sense."

Tsuna twitched nervously under Reborn's stare.

"H-How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," Reborn said. "Just…" Tsuna could have sworn that there was a hint of a smile dancing on his lips. "_Chaos_. There's a splendid amount of chaos in my life right now, and it feels good. Now, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of a few strange letters," Reborn said as if he were talking about the weather. "Tell me about them."

"Er," Tsuna said. He took a seat. "Well, where should I begin?"

"The beginning, of course."

"Well, I—" Tsuna paused. Reborn waited patiently for him to collect his thoughts.

"It started a month ago…"

Tsuna told him about the morning one month ago when he received the letter. He moved on to recount his experience with Yamamoto starting from a month ago—the absence, the death of Yamamoto's mother one month ago—and then paused. He was just about to begin the story of Yamada when Reborn's phone went off.

"It's from Dino," Reborn said. "Let me get this. Hello?"

_"Reborn! It's terrible; it's chaos down here!"_

"Chaos does not help me grasp the situation, Dino," Reborn said flatly.

_"I meant that there's been another murder—and it's horrible. I feel like puking, god."_

"What happened? Is it tied to the case?"

_"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It's a woman—Miura Chihiro. She's 29 and—"_

"I don't care about the name or the age, just give me what she's missing," Reborn said impatiently.

_"She's missing—she's missing her—her brain."_

Reborn's eyes widened and he snapped his phone shut, tearing out a piece of paper and pencil.

"R-Reborn?"

"Shut up, Tsuna. We'll have to meet another day. Let's say in three days, how does that sound? Take the bus home, don't get killed. Don't stray into isolated areas and die, or else I'll take you from hell and kill you again. Later."

Sputtering, Tsuna was pushed out of the office.

Reborn closed his eyes, words burning in his mind. He ran through them, gears in his head turning furiously.

Eye  
Appendix  
Radius  
Duodenum  
Masseter  
Ulna  
Brain

BEARDUM  
BARDUME  
BEARDUM  
BERADUM  
BERAMUD  
BERMAUD  
BERMUAD

_Bermuda_

"Bermuda…" Reborn whispered. He had seen that name before—where? His eyes flickered around the office, landing on the neglected, wilted purple flowers that Tsuna's mother had given to him a few days before.

Purple wilted flower—dying flower—where had he seen it before; why were these things connected to Bermuda?

"Ahh, yes… that lady who gave me the list…"

_Reborn simply stared down his nose at the slowly __**wilting**__ lady. Her __**purple**__ suit made her look even more like a __**dying flower**__. Her brown eyes slid to the side; a slight blush came over her face under Reborn's intense stare._

_Smirking, Reborn leaned in close. In a deep, mellow voice, he said, "I'll ask again. Will you give me the information you have on slit-throat murders?"_

_He rubbed a strand of the lady's hair in between his fingers. She almost fell out of her chair in her haste to back away. Red as a tomato, she hurried off to the back of the building. Satisfied, Reborn lounged on the counter, casting a lazy eye over the documents spread across the lady's desk._

_He had come all the way from Namimori to Tokyo, where the Vongola Police Headquarters, the main police web of Japan, was located. He wasn't going to leave until he had gleaned all the information he could possibly get._

_The files he was looking at listed the names of several convicted criminals. He scanned them quickly, committing them to memory in case he needed to pull out the names on the spot in the future._

_Not supposed to be doing this sort of work, he reminded himself. Timoteo assigned me to a therapist post and told me to take a break from this sort of work._

_Too bad, the other side of him scoffed. Can't stop me._

_Kuroko Haruo_

_Yukio Jiro_

_Yamanaka Kaoru_

_Rokudo Mukuro_

_Xanxus_

_"Xanxus got himself into trouble again?" Reborn sighed, readjusting his fedora. "I won't bother asking… last time, it was just a minor assault… threw a steak at a waiter, didn't he?"_

_Bermuda von Vichtenstein_

_John Smith_

_Jerry Guo_

_Samantha Hiro_

"Bermuda von Vichtenstein…"

In a flash, he was at his laptop, hacking into the Vongola Police Department's site of records. His fingers tapped furiously, typing _Bermuda von Vichtenstein_ into the search bar. Immediately, a single log appeared, with the face of the man pasted beside it.

Reborn downloaded the file and opened it up. His eyes furiously scanned the document until he found what he wanted—the crime, date of imprisonment, date of release.

"Broke into Simon Orphanage five years ago… He was caught… confessed to other crimes… was released one month ago…"

One month ago… he'd heard that phrase recently from Tsuna's mouth, something about Yamamoto's mother being killed.

He sighed, rubbing his face. A little investigation wouldn't hurt. As a detective, over the years you found that sometimes the strangest things were connected. He pulled up the boy's file and scanned over it.

Yamamoto Takeshi (age 16)  
Birthday: 04/20/XXXX  
Relatives:  
Father: Yamamoto Tsuyoshi  
Mother: Yamamoto Kazue (deceased, age 41)  
Address: xxx Number: xxx

"Yamamoto Kazue…"

Death of Yamamoto Kazue: Details:  
Date and Time: April 16, 3:44 p.m.  
Location: Home  
Cause of death: Suicide

Reborn frowned.

With further research, he found that Yamamoto's mother had been a lawyer when she was still alive, all the way up to her death. No—that wasn't quite right. She resigned just a few days before her death—which was a week after her parent's home, Fukushuu Mansion had been burned down, along with all her family and relatives.

Fukushuu Mansion… Revenge Mansion…

People picked such strange names for houses these days, Reborn thought to himself, clicking his tongue. Nevertheless, he filed this bit of information away, knowing for sure now that all these cases were related.

Yamamoto's mother had been involved in the case concerning the Simon Orphanage… it looked complicated. He opened the file up, scanning it quickly, and slowly, his eyes began to widen as things began to click into place.

"Bermuda von Vichtenstein… imprisoned for his many crimes… he was caught while breaking into the Cozart household and during the chaos, one of the people at the scene accidentally shot and killed Cozart's wife. Dear me, dear me… whose squad was on duty then?"

With a few more clicks, Reborn had all the information he needed. His eyebrows twitched as if they wanted to shoot up into his hairline, but he remained poker-face, his eyes and fingers the only parts of him that moved.

"Iemitsu's squad was there… gave orders to not shoot, but still, this incident happened."

That man was always more trouble than he was worth. After that, it seemed that Iemitsu's entire squad was annihilated… by none other than Cozart himself. The child left in the care of a close friend, Cozart was arrested, tried, and found guilty, sentenced quickly to death. Simon Orphanage passed into the hands of a man named Genkishi, who himself had been raised at the orphanage…

So what did this mean? Reborn sighed. Another boring revenge case. He took out his pen and sketched out the events.

Bermuda von Vichtenstein broke into the Cozart household five years ago. Police arrive and accidentally shot and killed Cozart's wife. Bermuda was caught, tried by Yamamoto's mother, and imprisoned for five years. For revenge, Cozart destroyed Iemitsu's squad. He was convicted, tried by Yamamoto's mother, and sentenced to death. Enraged at the time he'd lost, as soon as Bermuda was released, he put together a plan of revenge to make his name known. The day he'd been released—April 9, one week before Yamamoto's mother's death, he went to her parent's home and burned down the mansion—Fukushuu "Revenge" Mansion, thereby stating his purpose. Knowing that in carrying out his plan that he would eventually be caught, he decided to mold his own fate, and decide his own death, so he spelled out his own name with the victims, thereby making it known that he would be the cause of his own death, not the investigators.

"What a petty man," Reborn tsked, throwing down his pen. "And you, Shamal, don't think I don't know you're standing there."

"As sharp as ever, Reborn," Shamal said, stepping out from behind a door.

"What do you want?"

"Just have an update on the Ninth's health."

"How long does he have?"

"I'd say… a month at best. He's losing strength quickly. You might want to hurry up with that boy, Tsuna."

"Enough. I don't need you telling me that, too. That aside, this serial murder case has been resolved."

"Oh? So the pretty ladies I did autopsies on are finally going to have justice be served?"

"The women _and_ the men, yes, will finally have their revenge. The man is Bermuda von Vichtenstein. Send out the notice immediately."

"Hm… you know, this is just a shabby doctor's opinion, but looking over your notes, Reborn…" Shamal said, rubbing the stubble on his chin, "Doesn't this seem just far too simple?"

"Revenge is a simple matter," Reborn said coldly. "And it is a simple man who executes his vengeance."

"Well, I guess you've never been wrong before. By the way, this was in the mailbox at your door—thought you'd like to take a look at it judging by its title. 'Incriminating evidence,' huh?"

In the blink of an eye, the package Shamal was holding disappeared. Reborn tore it open, revealing a slender, scratched CD. He popped it into his laptop, and a poor-quality clip began playing, one belonging to a convenience store surveillance camera, dated April 31.

At first, Reborn had no idea what it was showing. It was pouring outside. People milled about in the store. Then, the doors of the store slid open, and a high-school boy barreled in, laughing as the water dripped off of him in rivulets. Right behind him was a short figure, also grinning, folding up a tangled umbrella. A boy? A small man? Reborn leaned closer to the screen.

"Isn't that… Tsuna's friend… Yamada?" Reborn muttered, squinting at the high-school boy.

"Reborn? Hello? What's going on? What is this?"

"A strip of film from the surveillance camera of a convenience store… from the location, it's one right on the route Yamada took to get home."

There was a third man loitering near the doors, probably waiting for the rain to let out, as he had no umbrella. A few women threw jackets over their heads and ran out into the rain. Yamada and his company remained in the store, walking a little out of sight. They came back out with a pair of new umbrellas, the shorter of the two tucking a wallet into his pocket and refusing coins Yamada was offering him.

The other man turned his face up at the camera for a split second as he laughed, presumably at a joke Yamada had just made. Reborn's eyes widened. The two males left the store—Yamada opened his umbrella first and dashed out into the rain, his laughing face caught by the camera one last time before _Bermuda_ followed him out.

"April 31…" Reborn breathed as the third man in the clip seemed to give up on waiting for the rain to end and walked out. "The day poor Yamada died. Sighted with none other than Bermuda von Vichtenstein himself. I daresay this is the last anyone ever saw of Yamada."

"They looked pretty chummy to me," Shamal drawled, taking a drag from a cigarette. "Oof!"

"Don't smoke here," Reborn snapped, removing his pen from Shamal's arm. "Now, I have more than enough evidence to land Bermuda in jail. All there is now is to catch him."

Reborn sighed and stood from his desk. "That turned out to be a rather boring case, wouldn't you say?"

"Rather than that, I'd say you failed," Shamal said.

"What?"

Shamal smirked and lifted the cigarette from his lips. He tapped the paper. "Right here. You said that Bermuda was deciding his own fate and how he would be caught and condemned, didn't you? In the end, you weren't able to solve the case before he completed his plan. It took every last hint he gave you for you to figure it out. He had to spell his entire name out for you.

"And in the end, how many people died for it? Seven, right? No, six. I saved that cute girl when she was brought in with her eye missing and her kidneys stabbed. Whatever happened to her, anyways? Didn't she escape along with that nasty heterochromatic-eyed boy?"

Reborn tipped his fedora over his eyes.

"Looks like I went too far. Sorry, Reborn. Just saying the honest, blunt truth here."

"Shut it," Reborn said irately. "And leave. I don't need your disgusting presence in my office."

"Sheesh, so snappy," Shamal said, raising his hands. "Alright, I'm out. My duty is done anyways. The Ninth wants to see you soon. I'll get the word out for you that we're looking for a man called Bermuda von Vichtenstein. And if you want to hang out with a couple of babes, I—"

Seeing the pen twirling dangerously in Reborn's fingers, Shamal hastily exited. Sighing imperceptibly, Reborn tossed the instrument on the desk and paced to the window.

Never once in the past 10 years of his career as a detective had Reborn ever been wrong in a case. What had once been fun and mentally stimulating was now just boring, repetitive drivel. How many times had he solved murder cases that were based on revenge? Too many that he could now sniff them out almost immediately.

This was just another one of those boring cases… that had taken him a little longer than usual to solve…

Because he'd just wanted it to be something different. Something smarter. Something more difficult to solve, something that would tax his brain to its limits, so he waited until the last minute before capitulating and accepting the fact that this case was nothing more than a trivial case of vengeance…

But he guessed he'd never get something exciting again. Even Tsuna's letter was rendered obsolete now, since the case was solved. He could guess what the contents were, based on Tsuna's blog. A letter of regret, wanting Tsuna to go back in time and prevent Yamada's death.

Wasn't that all it was?

"What a bore."

It began to rain. The sky turned dark grey as the droplets splattered against the windowpane. The soft, muted light illuminated Reborn's features harshly, putting a gleam into his eyes that spoke of disappointment and immense boredom.

His phone rang, disrupting the silence.

"What is it?"

_"This… A man called Bermuda von Frankenstein—"_

_"It's Vichtenstein."_

_"Er, Vichtenstein just turned himself into me. That was him speaking."_

"Did he now?"

Heat swelled behind Reborn's eyes. That conniving man… he'd turned himself in already. Reborn should have guessed it. To put the cream on the top of the cake, so to say, Bermuda further wrote his own future by turning himself in before anyone could take him by force.

_"Yeah… he said… he is the serial killer."_

"I thought as much. Very well. The case is closed. Good bye, for now, Dino."

He ended the call. He wondered if Tsuna was home yet, safe and dry, or if he was still caught out under this rain. This unifying rain that was above the entirety of Namimori… washing away the chaos that had once ravaged the town…

"…what a bore…"

* * *

[May 10 6:03 p.m.

Wow, did you guys hear? The serial killer has been caught! Apparently it's someone called Bermuda von…von… Viketinstine? Something like that. I only heard his name, so… His picture will be released on the news in a few minutes. I'll be able to see the face of the man who killed Yamada.

Yamada, I know you will never read this… but one last time, I want to say that I'm sorry. I said it. I won't say it again! I'm different now, I guess! I've decided… that instead of apologizing to you, I'll instead live for you! You know, like when Summer Festival comes… I know you had a girl you liked that you wanted to ask out to the Summer Festival. Instead, in your place… I'll ask out the girl I like! Whose name I won't mention, hehehe… I had a conversation with R-san recently, and he told me that I violating privacy or something like that for listing people's names on my blog. I changed it all! So now, it's completely private again.

Anyways…

I won't forget your kindness or your smile, Yamada! Thank you for everything. Please rest in peace knowing that you have been avenged. Your killer is behind bars, now. Justice will be served.

That said, I wonder if I can throw away this letter, now. The future has been changed already, right? There shouldn't be anything else that happens…

I won't look at it, not yet, at least. For now… Y, G-kun, and I are all going to go visit Yamada's grave.

Everyone, take care!

Tsuna]

[May 10 6:15 p.m.

…

I just saw Bermuda on TV… I saw his face…

And suddenly, I got a terrible feeling in my gut… like my instincts were telling me that something was wrong. I still remember that letter from May 7 that told me to trust my instincts… but I don't know what to do! Why do I feel so bad?

I feel… scared… like something's not right! I feel like someone is watching me… but when I turn around no one is there. Of course no one would be there, I'm at home, in my room…

I hope Y and G-kun get here quickly. Mom is out, and so I'm alone. I don't like this feeling. It's telling me I need to do something, but I don't know what…

Y and G-kun are here, thank goodness. I feel a lot better now. Take care, everyone!

Tsuna]

* * *

_Evil is always devising more corrosive misery through man's restless need to exact revenge out of his hate. —Ralph Steadman_

* * *

Just as Reborn was about to close up his office, He caught sight of a piece of paper he hadn't noticed before. Eyebrow raising a millimeter, he picked it up. What messy handwriting—handwriting that belonged only to his favorite patient…

An imperceptibly quizzical expression rose onto his face as he brought the paper close. It looked like… part of a letter? Signed Sawada Tsunayoshi, 26…

"Tsuna must have left this here… what a doof."

Nonetheless, curiosity piqued, Reborn scanned the letter.

…_That day_… _I thought everything was done. But it wasn't. It was actually far from over, and the nightmare was only beginning. What started out as a serial murder case turned out to be… well, I can't describe it. The only thing I can tell you is that revenge is a scary force. So frightening, in fact, that I wish it didn't exist. I, too, was once consumed by it… but as I stand here now, on Namimori Bridge, the place where Yamamoto, my best friend, died, I can see how foolish I was. _

_It took me a few months to complete this letter to you, myself of ten…no, eleven years ago. But it is almost done. I shall be sending this to you, packaged with all my hopes, and all the dreams everyone left to me. There is not much left, since you—I—we stopped our blog after that incident._

_And now… it's up to you. Over here, eleven years in the future, I have completed my duty. I have finally ended the cycle of revenge. I only have a few final letters left for you before I, too, disappear from this world…_

Reborn frowned. What was this nutcase talking about? Was Tsuna from eleven years in the future mentally unstable? A lunatic? A registered insane person? Reborn sighed. He supposed he shouldn't leave Tsuna to listen to the deranged ramblings of a man who claimed to be Tsuna from the future. He wrote in his mental agenda to email Tsuna to come again…

_…That day… I thought everything was done._

* * *

_I have a question for all of you, regarding the girls! Chrome, Haru, and Kyoko especially… do you want them to appear in the story? As in, have something to add to the plot? And, if so, should I change their characters a bit and make them stronger? They've always sort of pissed me off with their inability to do anything…_

_I will be including Chrome later on, and she will definitely be stronger than she is cut out to be in the manga._

_Also where is the new ORANGE chapter! I'm dying!_

_Thank you very much for all the reviews (though they seem to have been decreasing recently ._.)! They really make my day :) If there is anything I can do to make this story better (OOCness, etc) let me know, and I will work on it!_

_Author-san, out!_


	9. Bad Dreams Don't Go Away

_Hehe… hehehe… hello…_

* * *

**26**

_You're not worth your existence._

Hands scrabbled at his ankles, hands that split the asphalt just to get to him, to touch him, to try to drag him down.

_It hurts!_

Through the cracks, he could see the endless black from which the hands sprouted. All rotting, all decrepit, all with flesh melting off the bones.

_Save me._

He couldn't run. He didn't deserve to run. So he just stood there precariously on two pieces of the unbroken road as the hands reached for him, beckoned to him.

_Why can't you do something?_

His surroundings warped, turning into scenery he'd seen once before. The Namimori Bridge. Varia Mansion. Namimori Hospital. His home. His school. His childhood.

_You don't deserve to exist._

He saw them coming for him. He started to run then. They called out to him, breaking his heart with their words, but no, his heart couldn't be broken any more, or that's what he thought until he heard their cries.

_It hurts!_

_It hurts too much._

_I don't want to die._

_I didn't want to die!_

_I had so many things left to do in life…_

Broken dreams, broken lives, broken everything. Broken, broken.

_**How could you let us die?**_

He ran and he ran, but no matter how much he ran, he would always see them coming for him out of the corners of his eyes. Their shadows flitted between the white edges of his new world; turned blindingly white when his world turned black. They reached out to him, with fingers that trembled, nothing on their faces except for those eyes he knew too well.

_Just die._

Brown eyes, purple eyes, steely-grey eyes, green eyes, rusty eyes, silver eyes, black eyes.

_Join us and die._

All dead, all gone.

_The clock is ticking._

Gone, gone. Can't run from something that's gone. Not even in your dreams. See? You're dreaming now. But, you can't run.

_Tick-tock._

_Tick-tock._

…_Tick-tock._

* * *

**16**

It was barely after 4:00 in the morning, and it was dark. Outside was dark. Inside was dark.

The seconds passed by silently.

It was quiet, early enough that the birds were still sleeping and the sun still hadn't shown up over the horizon. Everyone should have been sleeping. Tsuna himself was in a deep sleep, a small line of drool running down his cheek as he smiled contentedly.

Then, there was an explosion of light. The door to Tsuna's room slammed open and a loud, gruff voice yelled out:

"TSUNA!"

"Wha!?"

Sitting straight up as though electrified, Tsuna grasped his bed sheets under his chin, as if that would protect him. There was a dark shadow at the door that moved—no, _bounced_ would be a better term—into his room. He gulped, praying to god, Buddha, Allah, Reborn that it wasn't a monster that was going to catch and eat him for breakfast and—

"Want to go catch breakfast?!"

The face of his father was illuminated by the light streaming in from the door. Mouth hanging open, Tsuna was at a loss for words as his heart went _thumpthumpthump_ in his chest.

"Wha…"

His father grinned at him, waving a fishing rod and net in his hands.

"I…I have school… so… I pass…"

"Okay!"

And then, as quickly as he came, Sawada Iemitsu left.

Tsuna collapsed in his bed, pulling the sheets high up over his head.

_What was that… catching breakfast… was that the first conversation after two years of not seeing each other…?_

"How… do I react to that… Please tell me it was just a dream…"

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Tsuna curled up and tried to forget that his father ever barged into his room at 4:05 in the morning to ask him to go catch breakfast with him. An impossible feat; but fatigue overcame shock, and Tsuna quickly fell asleep once more.

When he woke up, he saw nothing but black.

"Am I blind? What the heck? M-Mom!"

"Tsu-kun?" Nana asked, poking her head into his room. Luckily, she had just been passing by. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm b-blind! I—I can't see anything!"

Nana burst out laughing. "Oh, Tsu-kun… you're so funny. There's just a sticky note on your forehead, that's all."

Turning crimson from embarrassment, Tsuna slapped himself on the forehead in his quest to remove the sticky from his face.

"Breakfast is ready," Nana giggled. "Hurry, or you'll be late for school! Oh, and did I tell you? Dad is back!" Nana ended with a squeal and danced away, leaving her son with a stoned expression on his face.

_I noticed._

Suppressing a shiver, Tsuna flipped over the sticky that had nearly illegible writing all over it.

_Tsuna,_

_Come by my office after school today. I know you don't have anything else to do, so I would advise you to get your sorry existence to my building in all due haste. Dino can take you. And yes, tell him I know that he 'spilled the beans,' as the saying goes. Tell him also that I will deal with him later. _

_Reborn_

"Ah, this day just keeps getting worse and worse…"

Accepting breakfast from his mother, Tsuna left the house, being sure to avoid his father's loud voice that was coming from the side of the yard. Before long, he ran into Yamamoto and Gokudera.

"Oh, that's good for you!" Yamamoto cheered after Tsuna told them both what scarring event had happened to him that morning. "Your dad is finally back, huh?"

"Should we go greet him? The Tenth's father…" Gokudera mumbled.

"N-No! I mean… you don't need to go see such a random guy…"

"Hahaha, what do you mean by random?"

Tsuna shuddered. "Since before, all he's done or said is just outrageous… When I was little, I asked him once what he did for a living… and he said 'I go around the world and control traffic in construction sites.'"

"Around… the world?"

"A… wild guy…"

"Isn't he suspicious?" Tsuna shuddered. Gokudera quickly negated it, although it seemed as though he only did it out of respect for Tsuna's father.

"When I was little, I didn't get it, but now that I think about it, everything about him is so strange. And there's no reason for him to return anyways! He hasn't once, not in two years. Even if a dad like that comes home now…" Tsuna heaved a huge sigh.

"You shouldn't think too much about family stuff," Gokudera said unexpectedly. Tsuna jumped back when the other boy enthusiastically threw a thumbs-up into his face. "My house is far more complicated and messy!"

_He just said something crazy with a huge smile!_

"Ah… ok," Tsuna said meekly.

"Hahaha, I guess that's right!" Yamamoto said cheerfully. "My house is pretty complicated too, you know? But if you sort of just push it back in your head like _zoomp_, then you sort of forget about it, you know?"

"That doesn't make any sense at all, idiot," Gokudera scoffed.

_That's right…_ Tsuna thought to himself. _I don't know anything about Gokudera-kun's family, but Yamamoto… Yamamoto's mother committed suicide the day he transferred into Namimori. Something terrible must have been going on in order for something like that to happen. And when I think about it, I don't have it too badly myself._

Tsuna lifted his eyes to the sky, oblivious to the friendly (?) scuffle that erupted beside him.

_Yamada-kun's family must be so shaken now… Didn't he have an older sister? When I think about what they must be going through, my problems seem pretty trivial… And since Yamada's death, not even two weeks have passed… even though it seems like such a long time…_

His thoughts were jarred as Yamamoto, laughing, grabbed him around the shoulders and used him as a shield against Gokudera's agitated attacks.

"Ow!"

"T-T-Tenth, I'm so sorry!" Gokudera wailed, bowing sharply. "I can't believe I hit your face! Did it hurt?"

"N-No, it's okay… What hurts more is the strange looks people are giving us now..." Tsuna said weakly.

Gokudera sent a livid glare at the passer-bys, who hurried away with averted eyes.

"You're so funny, Gokudera," Yamamoto chuckled.

"What the hell?!"

"C-Calm down you guys, we're at school now," Tsuna squeaked. Hurrying forward, he bumped into somebody and turned hastily to apologize, but his words turned into a gargled squeak when he saw cold, grey eyes staring down at him.

"H-H-Hibari-san!"

The fearsome disciplinary head's arms twitched, and Tsuna fell back in fear. Gokudera immediately stepped forward, growling.

"Now, now, it was just an accident," Yamamoto tried to say. "Let's all calm down now."

"The only ones who are not calm are you," Hibari said coldly. "Get out of my sight." With a swish of the uniform hanging off his shoulders, Hibari stalked away.

"Who the hell does he think he is?!" Gokudera snarled at Hibari's back.

"Ah, that's right, you transferred in late," Tsuna said, getting to his feet. "You, too, Yamamoto."

"Who is he?" Yamamoto asked. "I've never been so… haha, I don't know! He was just kind of scary, wasn't he?"

"Peh!" Gokudera scowled.

"He's Hibari Kyouya, and he's head of the Disciplinary Committee. He's super scary and he'll beat anyone up with the slightest provocation, so you should definitely stay away from him," Tsuna explained.

"Sounds interesting!"

"That guy… how old is he?"

"Huh? Hibari-san? He's in the year above us, I think."

"He's definitely on my blacklist now," Gokudera growled. "I hate anyone who's older than I am."

_That's… a lot of people you must hate, then,_ Tsuna wanted to say.

"Ah! It's Enma. Yo!"

The quiet boy bowed. "Good morning."

"Looking as pathetic as ever," Gokudera greeted.

To Tsuna's surprise, there were still quite a few absentees, but many students had returned. Dino greeted them with a blinding grin and a _good-to-see-you-all-back_ speech that assured them that Namimori was now a safe town.

During class, Tsuna pulled out the letters he'd taken a habit to carrying with him at all times. There was no May 11th date, so he skimmed the contents of the letters before and after.

_May 10_

_From May 8 to May 11, you were in a coma. The bombs had gone off, and you paid for it, as did many of your friends. Not all of them survived; in fact, the majority lost their lives. Dino was severely scarred. Yamamoto and Gokudera made it through. Critically injured, you spent the next three days in a deep sleep, recuperating._

_I have nothing to say here, other than… that I have one regret. Even after almost losing my friends, I never told them how important to me they were. I never expressed my gratitude. I was always too late. __**I don't want you to be like this.**_

_People say that it is never too late, but it's not true._

_**Remember this.**_

_May 15_

_Dad came home today. What the heck, really… after so long, too. I can't believe this… he even woke me up at four in the morning to go get breakfast with him… I declined, of course. __**It would be nice if you spent more time with Dad. **_

"Hahaha, nope," Tsuna muttered under his breath.

_I went to Reborn's office today…And then I got the biggest shock of my life… Apparently, I'm supposed to become… This is like the dream I had a few years ago in middle school, where Reborn forced me to become a mafia boss!_

…

_**I'm taking out some information since I know this will probably happen to you regardless of whatever happens in your timeline. Teehee~ Think of it as a surprise!**_

_And besides, what are they doing now, with the serial killer still on the loose? Shouldn't they be focusing on that rather than on me?_

"What the… why…"

"Yo, Sawada. Those love letters more interesting than my class?"

Tsuna squeaked, hitting his knees against the bottom of his desk as he jumped in his seat. Dino rested a hand nonchalantly on his desk, a playful grin on his face.

"D-Dino-sensei! I'm sorry!" Tsuna apologized, shoving the letters into his desk.

"Hahaha, youth is so fun, isn't it?" Dino said loudly, as he turned to look at Yamamoto, who was taking a nap on his desk. "Ah, confession letters are so great…"

"Pff, Dino-sensei, who'd confess to Tsuna?"

"Seriously, though, who'd give a love letter to Tsuna?"

"Tsuna's not that sort of guy…"

"Shut up!" Gokudera snarled. "The Tenth is a great guy! He's just so great that none of you can see it!"

"Hahaha," Yamamoto said groggily as he woke from his nap. "That's right! What's going on?"

Tsuna turned beet red from embarrassment as the rest of the class laughed.

"Now, now," Dino said, grinning, "Let's get back to work. Repeat after me: Physics is fun!"

There was a general mumble as nobody said the phrase. Disappointed, Dino turned away from them and walked to the board.

"Alright, then, you all. Since you're so mean to me, let's learn about gravity! Actually, since you were _so mean_, I have a pre-test to give to you all that will count as a grade!"

The class shouted in despair. "No! No, Dino-sensei, you're the best! Physics is the best! Physics is so fun that I could die!"

"Too bad," Dino sang. "Too late. I'll give you 15 minutes and then run the scantrons off in the machine so you can have your results right away!"

Needless to say, within the first minute almost everyone was groaning about how hard the test was, how horrible a teacher Dino was, and how impossible it would be to get a good grade on this. Tsuna glanced around, trying to reassure himself that he was not as stupid as this test made him seem to be.

"Wh-wha? How is Yamamoto figuring out the questions?"

Yamamoto caught him staring in astonishment and flashed him a victory sign and a grin. _Guess!_ he mouthed. As Tsuna watched on, Yamamoto filled his scantron in as he pleased without even casting a glance at the questions.

At the front of the classroom, Tsuna could see Gokduera's pencil dashing across his paper. Within another minute, he threw his pencil down, a defiant, triumphant glower on his face, as Dino nervously collected his completed pre-test.

To his left was Enma. Tsuna blinked a couple times to make sure that he was seeing things correctly. Enma… was actually figuring the questions out? Was Enma actually a genius?! Tsuna looked down at his test to see if it were actually easier than it seemed, but the first question—

_Star A and Star B with masses 5082394892834798765447 and 29837492845970987767463 kg respectively are circling each other with…_

No.

It didn't look like Enma was just fiddling around randomly like Yamamoto… there was actually work, diagrams, and equations on his paper.

Shaking his head, Tsuna decided to take Yamamoto's suggestion.

_A-B-C-D-E-D-C-B-A-B…_

Truly a fail-safe method of getting at least a 30%.

"Alright, guys! Time's up!"

Dino was out of the classroom and returned in a flash, with an evil grin on his face. "How is it? Should I read out everyone's scores? Just kidding. I'll just tell you… there were actually some very good grades in this class."

In the silence, Tsuna could _hear_ Gokudera smirking.

"100… and 80. The rest were just too bad to mention."

"Who got a one hundred?!"

"There were _two_ one hundreds, to be exact," Dino said proudly.

Gokudera nearly fell out of his chair.

"And one 80. So… drumroll please!" Dino said, having far too much fun with this. "The first winner is… Gokudera Hayato! And the second… Cozart Enma!"

"What?!"

"Enma, what the hell? You were actually smart?"

Enma cringed. "No, I… I actually…"

"Good job!" Yamamoto cheered.

"Who got the 80?"

"Yamamoto… Takeshi!" Dino cried. "Congratulations to you three!"

"What the hell, Yamamoto? _You_ were actually smart, too!?"

"Haha, I got lucky!" Yamamoto beamed.

"And the curveball of the group who got a 0 on his test…"

_Can't be me, right?_ Tsuna gulped. _I guessed on everything like Yamamoto. I didn't even look at the questions! So, it can't be me… right?!_

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, the boy who got a confession letter!"

Tsuna took his test paper miserably as Dino gave him a consoling pat on the back and the rest of the students hooted at him.

"The rest of you all got at least one question right… come get your tests!"

_Of course it would be just me…_

* * *

In Tokyo, a man held onto his fedora as he walked the path between the grave markers, the wind blowing gustily around his dark figure. His suit flapped in the wind, but what would be a usually ungainly sight for others did not detract from his attractiveness at all. Elegantly, he stepped down the cobblestone path until he reached his goal. One hand still on his fedora, he looked down at the square stone embedded in the ground, reading its words.

_Here lies Yamada Haruto, a loving son and brother._

Like sand in an hourglass, the minutes slipped by. He had just bent down to wipe a bit of dirt off the engraved words, when a voice stopped him.

"Thought I'd find you here, Reborn."

Reborn straightened up, not even turning his head in the speaker's direction.

"I didn't want to see you here, Iemitsu."

"Ahh, such a cruel greeting after going so long without seeing each other."

Reborn made no reply as the older, stubbly man moved to his side. Hands in pockets, the two of them rested their eyes on the small grave marker.

"Ahh… hasn't even been two weeks since this one died, has it?"

"No."

Yamada Haruto died April 30. Today was May 11.

"Still hung up on the past?"

Reborn tilted his fedora down. "Always will be."

"The past is the past, Reborn…"

"And the past is part of who I am, so I can't run away from it, Iemitsu."

Even the wind was silent then. Iemitsu rested a hand on Reborn's shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself up over it… it's not your fault that her son died."

"I know."

"Besides, he got his revenge, now that Bermuda is locked up. His trial will be in a few days. Diet wants to get this matter off their hands as soon as possible."

"Yeah."

"If you ask me, though, something's a little fishy about this," Iemitsu said. "Diet's working too quickly, in my opinion. Cases like these usually take weeks to get through."

"It was considered to be a national catastrophe. People are looking for justice."

"And justice they will get," Iemitsu said solemnly.

He dropped his hand from Reborn's shoulder to pull out a half-empty pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He brought one stick to his lips, but didn't light it.

"Have you seen her yet?"

"At the funeral. That was all."

"And her daughter?"

"She was there, too. She's grown a lot," Reborn replied, once again squatting down to touch the grave marker. He cleared the dirt out of the engraved words and straightened up the slightly wilted bunch of flowers laid across the grave.

"She should be 22 now, shouldn't she be?"

"Yes."

Iemitsu flicked the cigarette from side to side for a bit before asking a little delicately, "Have you gone to see him recently?"

He cast Reborn a sidelong glance to see his reaction. Reborn shrugged. "There's time now. He's somewhere around here. Up there."

An awkward silence settled around the two as Iemitsu accompanied Reborn up the stone steps to the next row of graves. He wondered what was behind that impassive face of Reborn's, the one that nobody could ever read. It hadn't changed a bit, that mask of his… not one little bit over the past two years he'd been gone. If anything, it had improved in its effectiveness at erasing every hint of emotion.

"That's the one," Reborn said, halting.

It was a slightly old grave they had stopped at, one that had been erected almost 17 years ago. The etched words were sharply defined, as if they were cleaned every day.

_Here lies Shinji Shiraishi, loving son, brother, and uncle._

* * *

"Ahh, today was horrible," Tsuna groaned as the group of four headed out the school gates. "I got teased so much for my score of 0…"

"No! Tenth, don't be so downhearted," Gokudera said. "It just means… that the test was not worthy of your greatness!"

"No, I think it just means that I have really bad luck…"

"Sawada!"

Tsuna turned. "Dino-sensei?"

Panting, Dino grabbed Tsuna's shoulder and marched him away, saying "Didn't you have a meeting with Reborn?! He just texted me and told me I'd have to run two marathons in the same day if I didn't bring you right away!"

"A-ah, I forgot… My luck just keeps getting worse and worse… You guys go home without me."

Waving, the other three left while Tsuna bemoaned his bad fate. Judging by the state of his day so far, Reborn was likely to be in a bad mood. And Reborn in a bad mood was never pleasant…

* * *

"Very good to see you here, Tsuna," said Reborn, who was in a very bad mood. "Please, take a seat. Anywhere. Preferably in the sea while having concrete blocks tied to your feet, but as that cannot be arranged at the moment, just take a seat in my office."

"Ah… yeah…"

Tsuna gulped, very tense in a hideously yellow chair provided to him.

"You just thought my chair was a hideous yellow, didn't you?"

"Ye—no! It's very—it's very aesthetically pleasing!"

"Thank your father for the wonderful gift," Reborn said dryly. "By which I mean, I highly recommend that you strangle him to death as soon as you get the chance."

"Now, now, Reborn, don't be so violent," sang a dreadful voice Tsuna had heard that morning at four in the morning.

"No way… Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, my cute son~ You weren't home all day, so I thought you were avoiding me!"

Whapping his father's groping hands away, Tsuna jumped out of his chair. "I had school!"

"Ah, what's that? Isn't that the place where they teach you funny stuff? Like math?"

"Enough with the idiocy!" Reborn barked. "Just get your business over and done with, Iemitsu."

Throwing up his hands in defeat, Iemitsu plopped down into the yellow chair he'd brought from wherever he'd been. "Geez, Reborn, you've changed a lot in the two years I've been gone."

"And you haven't changed one bit. Please, get on with it or discuss these matters in the privacy of your own home."

"Ahh, you know I can't do that. Nana can't know!"

"Mom can't know what?" Tsuna said, curiosity finally pressing him to overcome his dislike of his father to speak. "What's going on here?"

Iemitsu grinned at his son and slapped him on the back, nearly sending him flying into Reborn's desk. "My cute son! You are soon going to be Commissioner-General of Japan!"

"…come again?"

"You can't tell Nana, though! This is top-secret, okay?"

Tsuna struggled hard to not seize the nearest object (a vase of extremely dead violets) and hurl it at his father's goofy face. "No, first… what are you even saying, dad? Are you drunk? Who's going to become Commissioner-General of Japan?"

"You!"

Seeing that he was going to get no sober answer from his father, Tsuna jerked his gaze to Reborn, whose face was darker than usual.

"R-Reborn…? What's going on?"

"Exactly what he said."

"Ha ha ha, you're joking, right."

"No."

"Believe it, Tsuna," Iemitsu said. "You know what the Commissioner-General is, right?"

Tsuna fidgeted.

"Knowing Tsuna, I would assume no," Reborn said dryly. "I'll explain for you before your baboon of a father tries to.

"By now you should know that I am indeed part of the police force, correct? Sadly to say, this idiot beside me is also part of the force, and a big part of it as well."

"What? Dad is?" Tsuna gaped. "No! I-If Japan… If dad is part of Japan's infrastructure… Japan will fall!"

"So mean!" Iemitsu gasped. "Tsuna! My son! How could you say these things?"

"Shut up until I'm finished!" Reborn snapped. "Like father, like son, two idiots who can't take things seriously!"

After a meek apology from the duo, Reborn turned around and twirled a marker in his hand, pacing back and forth in front of the single whiteboard in his office.

"The Law Enforcement Agency of Japan is provided by the National Police Agency, which is overseen by the National Public Safety Commission. At the head of the NPSC is the Chairman, also the Minister of State, a position that is currently occupied by a female genius, age 20, by the name of Uni."

"What? How's that possible?" Tsuna interjected meekly. "Aren't all those sorts of people old geezers?"

"Generally, yes," Reborn said testily. "However, Uni has proved her abilities to be far and beyond that of any 'old geezer.' Now, Uni has the power to appoint and retire any position in the National Police Agency. Currently, NPA's head is Commissioner-General Timoteo. This is where you come in, Tsuna."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Timoteo has been diagnosed with brain cancer, and he has submitted your name to Uni for consideration as the next Commissioner-General of the NPA."

"W-W-What?! Why! Why me?! I don't even—I've never even met this—Timoteo person!" Tsuna spluttered. "I can't—plus I'm not eligible or whatever!"

"Uni has already approved his recommendation," Reborn said. "You are next in line. Think of it as you becoming the next boss of a mafia family! Isn't that exciting."

"No! Moreover, where did the mafia example come from?!"

"Just a passing fancy," Reborn shrugged. "Don't you think life in the mafia would be exciting?"

"No!"

"There, there, Tsuna," Iemitsu said soothingly, patting his panicking son on the back. "I know this is all a big shock. Why don't you have some of Daddy's magical water?"

"No! I know that's just sake! God, and you're part of the police force?"

"Head of the Security Bureau, to be exact," Reborn said as Iemitsu laughed. "It should be illegal for idiots like him to be employed, I know, but Uni's orders are absolute…"

"Isn't that a pretty important part of Japan?" Tsuna said shakily. "And this guy is at the head…"

"Indeed. The Security Bureau is in charge of foreign intelligence gathering, suppression of riots and security during national disasters. I'd count our lucky stars that nothing serious has happened during his appointment to office."

"Then... then, you, Reborn? Are you part of anything?"

"Of course. Temporarily, I have been on… vacation, if you will. For quite a number of years. But, I should be returning to my post very soon…"

"Which is…"

_Do I want to know?_ Tsuna gulped. _Do I want to know what part of my life is in jeopardy because of all these random appointments to the police force?!_

"Criminal Investigation Bureau," Reborn said testily. "Don't wear that look on your face. I'm quite a good investigator."

"N…no… this is just a shock… for me…"

Reborn cast a testy look on Tsuna, who cringed immediately and apologized for everything he'd ever done wrong to Reborn.

"Very well, the news has been broken. If you will, show yourselves out of my office."

"No, wait! Why don't I have any say in this matter? Actually, I just refuse flat out to become Commissioner-General of the NAP!"

"NPA," Reborn corrected. "And it has already been decided. Don't look at me like that. I don't like this at all, either. I thought that finally, I would be freed of this stupid therapy position, but instead, I get stuck with you…"

"What?"

Reborn rounded on him, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"I have been assigned to be your mentor."

Deciding to relish the fear in Tsuna's eyes while he could, Reborn smirked. "I welcome you to your hellish days of training."

Then, Reborn promptly kicked the father-son pair out of his office and slammed the door on their behinds.

* * *

Needless to say, Tsuna did not sleep very well that night. He tossed and turned in his bed, flopping his pillow around in desperate attempts to escape into sleep that would make him forget about everything that happened that day. Maybe—maybe if he fell asleep, when he woke up, he'd see that everything had just been a dream!

"Please be a dream, oh god, yes, please be a dream…"

Not far from Namimori, in the outskirts of Tokyo in a sky-scraping apartment complex where rent was 150,000 yen a month, a different man was wishing almost the opposite. On a spacious room on the sixteenth floor, he rustled underneath his sheets, willing himself to wake, but incapable of such a feat. His dreams were not freedom from reality; rather, they reminded him of his purpose in life.

Moonlight snuck in between the blinds, dancing on the pale features of this man's face, illuminating the white stripes on his simple black t-shirt. Messy black hair framed his face as he slept, his eyebrows slightly knit together, lips barely parted—an expression near innocence that was rarely ever seen on his face.

A cold, hard mask he donned in the day; a troubled, vulnerable face he showed in sleep.

Barely 23, Reborn was far beyond his years in intellect, experience, and ability to lock away emotion. Knowing this, Uni had ordered him to go on temporary leave and sent him to the town of Namimori, where the boy called Sawada Tsunayoshi lived. On the surface, it seemed like a mission to protect the next-in-line for the Commissioner-General of the NPA; below that farce, it was simply a weak attempt at trying to break the solid wall Reborn had been building up around him since he had turned four.

It had been almost four years now, since Reborn had left his post. Four, long, boring years. Despite Uni's orders, he solved cases, pursued criminals, brought the hammer of justice down on poor, unassuming heads. Still, life was boring. Still, he yearned for something else. He wanted to return to his position as soon as possible—what was holding Uni back? The sooner he returned, the sooner he could repay his debt and assume his revenge for his best friend…

His best and only friend he'd ever had…

The man called Reborn rolled onto his other side, hands close to his face. The moonlight flitted away behind an unassuming cloud, and the only light entering the room came from the faint, weak trickles of artificial light originating from the city below.

Dreams were unwelcome in this room. But, uninvited, they came, relentlessly to Reborn. And he had no right to refuse them.

* * *

**P—R.**

_Once upon a time there was a boy he was small he was young he was smart he was so smart so smart it hurt it hurt him he didn't want to hurt hurt hurt_

"I just have to tell you that your child is one of the—no, that's not right. Reborn-kun is _the_ smartest child I have ever met in my entire teaching career. I know that might not sound like much seeing as he's only five, but—"

"Oh, we know he's an intelligent child," the woman with red, red lips gushed. "He started reading when he was only three months old and he spoke his first word when he was one month old."

"And he could write when he was six months old, isn't that amazing? Even before he could walk!" said the man with the sharp eyes.

"My goodness, that is absolutely astonishing," the teacher said. "He is—a very special child. You are blessed to have such a wonderful son."

"We know," the man and woman said together. "Oh, we know."

Whatever hesitation, whatever lie in the teacher's voice there was, the two parents didn't notice, wouldn't notice, couldn't notice. They didn't know that Reborn was considered an 'aberration,' that the teacher was frightened by him, that the kids ostracized him. They didn't know any of this, because all they saw in their son was a genius to be praised.

_he didn't want to hurt hurt hurt he went to school he made some friends but they got mad at him because he wouldn't play like they played but playing was fun he wanted to have fun too but they didn't like him because he was too special special_

"My goodness, Takao-kun! What are you doing?" teacher cried out. As the little boy threw his cards into Reborn's face, Reborn stood stock-still, stiller than a frightened rabbit.

"Reborn won't play right! He won't play right!"

"How is he not playing right?"

But the boy's words melted into an incomprehensible blubbering that the teacher knew would never stop. She shooed him into the corner and rounded on Reborn.

"Reborn-kun, what did you do?"

"I do not believe that I did anything, ma'am."

Her eyes flickered as a strange shudder ran through her body.

"You must have done something, Reborn-kun. Takao-kun's a nice boy, you know, so he wouldn't throw a fit over nothing! It's alright, you can tell sensei."

"I did nothing that would breach the rules, codes, or regulations of the school. Therefore, I cannot comprehend why he would be so ineffably upset."

"Now then, Reborn-kun," the teacher said, struggling. "Tell the truth. Did you say something?"

Reborn shrugged. His steely eyes—_not a child's eyes those weren't child's eyes_—never left the teacher's for a moment. "Yes. He tried to show me a trick. I merely pointed out the flaws."

"Reborn-kun, that's not good of you."

"Why?"

"I—Well, things like that… you should…"

'_You should just play along, like an adult would.'_

She wanted to say this, but she knew she couldn't. Not to a five year old. To be sure, she didn't have any right to say this to such a young child. But was he really only five? Those eyes—_not a child's_—that intellect, those sharp words… They belonged to an adult. So uncomfortable, so unyielding was this feeling she got from him… She couldn't stand it.

She sent him to the reflection corner, and watched as he pulled out a book nearly the size of himself. She shivered.

He wasn't normal.

_because he was too special special he went to school but they kicked him out he was hurt they didn't even say goodbye when Midori left to go to Tokyo they threw him a great big party and everyone cried and laughed and had cake but when Reborn left there was nothing for him no card no farewell party nothing nothing nothing he just left _

"I just don't believe this is the place for him. Perhaps you should try enrolling him in… high school?"

"High school?"

"Yes. I see from your faces you are incredulous. But, judging by the books I've seen him read…"

"What books, Principal?"

"Sartre… Descartes, etc. I asked him to write me a paragraph on what he thought of their works to see if he had actually understood the subjects… and what he gave to me… well, it was far beyond the quality of even University students' writings."

"That's our boy. No, high school is too slow for him. He'll be attending University."

_he went to university they looked at him funny he was hurt_

"What the hell is a kid like him doing on campus…?"

"Do you think he's lost?"

"Hey, kid, where're your parents?" The male speaking was sixteen and had a blue plaid shirt on over tan khakis. Reborn studied his face for lack of something better to do. Light grey eyes, with matching light grey hair. Fascinating.

"They left."

"Left? You mean they left you here on purpose?"

"Yes. They dropped me off."

"No way… what? Are you here to visit your sibling or something? Want me to call them for you? What's their name?"

"No. I am here to attend class and lecture."

The young adult laughed along with his friends. "You're a funny kid, you know that? I like you. But really, do you know your parents' number? I'll call them for you."

"I suggest that you not. They have been very occupied with work recently, so I believe that it would be best to let them organize themselves for a bit. If you could, you could show me to my room instead."

"…your… room? Hey, you're not being serious, kid, are you? How old are you? Are you actually like one of those people who look young but are really old?"

"I am being serious. And no, I am six years old."

He saw the young adult shoot glances at his friends.

"…I'm going to take you to the Dean. The guy who runs stuff around here. That sound good to you?"

"It seems I have no choice in the matter."

"What?"

Reborn shrugged. "I am six years old and have the physique of a six-year-old. If you want to take me somewhere, there is no way for me to protest other than vocally. So, do whatever you please."

"Shi—this kid is creeping the hell out of me."

"Isn't he?"

"What's wrong with him… grade-schoolers shouldn't be talking like that."

"Maybe he's being serious…"

"But he's six! I read about something like this that happened in America, but it was an 11-year-old in college!"

"Shut up you guys," blue-plaid-shirt guy warned. He turned back to Reborn, who watched them with unreadable eyes. "Here kid, I don't know what you are… I mean, I don't know if you're… I—well, what I'm saying is…"

"You don't know if I am jesting, so you want to take me to the authorities in your school to assure yourself that you are doing the right thing. Very well. Lead the way."

_they looked at him funny it hurt it hurt too much but he had to endure his parents were too busy to take care of him at home but he was only five he was only five he didn't have anything he went to class he ate too little studied too much talked too rarely_

"What a freak. Check this guy's score out. 100! You curve breaker."

"Thanks to you, I have to keep my F…"

"People like you shouldn't exist…what the hell…"

Reborn sat silently.

"What's with that look? As if you're just looking down on all of us? You're only six, you freak!"

"Just go home. University isn't for grade-schoolers."

"Still wet your bed?"

"Lay off him," blue-plaid-shirt guy said hotly. Reborn dubbed him so, even though the older boy didn't wear blue-plaid-shirts every day. "He didn't do anything to you."

"Screw off, Shiraishi. Don't go sticking up for him just because you're younger than us and did a little better than we did."

Reborn's eyes flickered to blue-plaid-shirt-guy's paper. 90. Class average was a 70. Blue-plaid-shirt-guy was smart.

"I didn't," Shiraishi protested, moving his arm to cover his score. "I-I got the same as the rest of you. Just lay off the kid, it's not good for his mental health."

"Mental health my ass. The kid's already fuc—"

"Just shut the _hell_ up," Shiraishi growled. "C'mon, Reborn. Let's get away from these losers."

Reborn barely got a chance to shove his papers in his bag before Shiraishi grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.

"…hurts…"

"Sorry," Shiraishi said, immediately dropping Reborn's small arm.

"No, it didn't hurt too much."

"No, I meant about my friends—well, my ex-friends, if you will. Wow, that sounds so dramatic, I don't even…"

"Why are you apologizing for that?"

"Huh?" Shiraishi stopped, looking surprised. He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, they were giving you a hard time?"

"You are not to blame for that. Therefore, there is no reason for you to lower yourself and apologize."

Shiraishi's eyebrows twitched. "What? What do you mean by 'lower yourself'?"

Reborn shrugged. "I'm a kid. A six-year-old. Ten years younger than you are. No one else gives me the time of day other than to call me names and to pull pranks on me. Obviously, I'm not worth talking to or caring about or standing up for."

Shiraishi looked shocked for a brief moment. A strangled sigh escaped his throat, and he ran a hand through his silver-grey hair, shaking his head.

"I knew they were having a bad effect on you… sit down, Reborn."

"What?"

"Sit down. Right here. Look at this green grass. Don't you just want to roll around in it?"

"That—what?"

"C'mon, join me!" Shiraishi called. He romped around by himself in the grass, getting green stains all over his clothes. "C'mon, I look like a loser here by myself!"

…_You sure do…_

Before Reborn could protest, Shiraishi pulled him down and got him into a headlock, digging his knuckles into Reborn's skull. The boy yelped and struggled to get out of Shiraishi's hold, but it was a five-year-old against a seventeen-year-old. Of course he had no chance.

"Eat dirt, man! Dirt tastes hella good!"

"Gross! S-Stop that!"

"Naw, man, grass is the shi—I mean, grass is… great!" Shiraishi laughed as Reborn spat dirt out of his mouth. "God, I have to watch my language around you, now… but, hahaha, look at you, you're all messy now!"

"What was that all about?" Reborn struggled to stay calm. Shiraishi grinned and threw another handful of dirt into Reborn's face; Reborn yelped and threw his hands up.

"There we go. Now you're growing up properly. Bet you never had to deal with something like that, huh?" Shiraishi said, ruffling Reborn's hair.

"N-No, I can't say I have, but needless to say, I am still confused as to what brought upon that sudden attack."

Shiraishi sighed and flopped onto his back, folding his hands behind his head. "Ahh, man. Just when I started to get you to sound your age, you go back to using all this fancy syntax and junk that just sounds confusing. Relax, man! Lie down beside me, and I'll tell you what I think about you."

"I never asked about that," Reborn grumbled. But he conceded, gingerly lying down, wincing as he thought about the grass stains that would color his white dress shirt.

"Ready?"

"For what?"

"My love for you!"

"What the—"

"No, no, I'm just kidding. Lie back down. I'm not a pedophile!"

"Just get on with it…" Reborn said.

"Alright, alright… number one!" he suddenly barked, forcing down a grin when Reborn's small body jolted next to him. "Don't you ever say that you're not worth such and such thing or whatever crap you just said! I don't give a dam—I mean, I don't… I don't care about what those bastar—I mean, what those losers say to you or about you. You shouldn't either. People like them, you don't care about their opinions. Am I making sense?"

"No. Especially when you start saying a word and then say 'I mean.'"

Shiraishi let out an exasperated grunt. "I'm just trying to keep my language in check, man! You're still a ki—very young! If I stain those virgin ears of yours, I would never be able to forgive myself, uuu…"

"Stop making those pathetic crying sounds this instant."

Shiraishi laughed. He ran a hand through his light grey hair, dislodging bits of grass and dirt. "Alright. What I mean to say is that, it seems like you, right now, are allowing yourself to be very influenced by those guys' actions and words. I'm telling you that you shouldn't be."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are! And you saying that you're not letting yourself be affected is just proof that you _are!_"

"I hope you never become a lawyer."

"Shut it, I know I don't make sense half the time I talk. But, at the end of the day, what I'm saying is that YOU are just as human as the rest of us," Shiraishi said. He rolled over on his side so that he was facing Reborn and stared him directly in the eye. "And by human, I mean that you are WORTH—worth isn't even the right word. We're all equal. None of us is any better than the other here. Just because they treat you like crap doesn't mean that you _are _crap."

Reborn was silent. Then, "They don't like me. No one does."

"I like you, damn it!" Shiraishi said. "I've read the notes you take—"

"Excuse me?"

"I sit next to you in organic chemistry!"

"And?"

"And—you, with your small bladder, take bathroom breaks every thirty minutes! That's twice in one lecture! Of course I'd take a peek at your notes just to—uh, you know, see if you're taking them well and such. Yeah."

Reborn's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

"Okay, I was actually interested in seeing if you actually understood the stuff going on in class, so I stole a look at your notes while you were peeing. Half of them are just observations about the rest of the class—I mean, like really, I remember one part being like 'Sensei turned around. He thought everyone was assuming he was writing on the board. However, in reality… he was picking his nose. Everyone, say hi to Bob the booger.'"

"Y-You shouldn't read things like that!" Reborn snapped, flustered.

"You shouldn't write things like that!" Shiraishi teased. "Anyways, what was my point?"

"That you're an immature gorilla with graying hair—"

"Thanks, it's a natural color," Shiraishi said. "NUMBER TWO! Don't you_ ever_ say again that I'm lowering myself to talk to you."

"But it's true. It's what the other kids say."

"What do you mean it's what the other kids say?"

Reborn rolled onto his other side, so his back faced Shiraishi. A barrier between himself and the only person who was trying to breach the gap between the two of them. A lonely barrier.

"…when you're not around, they tell me that you're only being kind. You're deigning to communicate with a kid like me just because you're sort of like me—sixteen, instead of eighteen like the rest of them. They said I'm not worth your time…"

"And what did _I_ just say? God, it's like my opinion doesn't even matter around here. What I mean is don't deprecate yourself like that! It's not healthy, and it's not true! Got it? Turn over so I can see you!"

Reborn remained motionless.

"God, kids will be kids," Shiraishi grumbled. Before Reborn knew what was happening, he couldn't see anymore and warmth enveloped him from all sides. "But, it's alright to be a kid, don't you think?"

He spent a long time like that, curled up with his face in Shiraishi's shoulder.

_he made a friend and they ate lunch together and they would laugh and have fun fun fun fun_

"Man, that last test was a killer," Shiraishi groaned. He snapped apart his disposable chopsticks and stabbed his lunch with vehemence. "Just die, octo-sausage…"

"Who made your lunch?" Reborn asked, noting the homely presentation of Shiraishi's lunch.

"What? Oh, my sister…"

"Lover?"

"What?! Where are you learning such things? I said sister!"

Reborn shrugged. "Stay awake at night time one day and leave the window open."

Shiraishi groaned. "No, we are not in an incestuous relationship! She's a police officer—on patrol around these parts, so she just comes around and drops off lunch every now and then."

Reborn nodded. "So, lover."

"N-No! She has two kids and a husband already!"

"Affair. Cruel."

Shiraishi squawked and jabbed at Reborn with his chopsticks, nearly sending the little boy flying down the hill they had claimed as their lunch spot. Squeaking, he lunged forward and caught Reborn, but his momentum carried him forward and the two of them tumbled down the hill anyways, a mess of limbs, yelps, and laughs.

At the bottom, grass stained and with crumpled clothes, they threw their arms behind their heads and spent minutes just staring up at the azure sky, watching the clouds amble across the vast expanse. Moments like these were precious; campus was rarely ever as empty as it was today. No interruptions, no teasing, no cruel laughter in those moments, nothing but the comforting feeling of close friendship.

"You're different now, you know?"

"What?"

"You don't talk so stiffly anymore," Shiraishi said, grinning. "It's fun! You smile more, act more like a kid these days."

Reborn frowned. "Is that a good thing?"

"I think so," Shiraishi shrugged. "But then again, God, it's like my opinion doesn't matter around here anymore."

"Sorry."

Shiraishi raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"Probably because of me… that people don't accept you anymore."

"Shut it, Reborn," Shiraishi said, pushing grass into Reborn's face. "People like that don't matter. Besides, I have plenty of friends."

"Girlfriend?"

Shiraishi turned beetroot red.

"Really, who's teaching you these things?"

The corner of Reborn's mouth lifted and he turned his eyes back up at the sky. "I wonder…"

"You're awful, man," Shiraishi groaned. He flopped onto his stomach and started making a whistle out of grass. "No, no girlfriend for this man, yet."

"Good. It's better not to get your hopes up anyways. You'll probably be single for the rest of your life."

"H-Hey!"

_fun fun fun he got to know what a family was like so fun_

"What? You're not going home for break?" Shiraishi paused in his packing.

"No. My parents are busy with government affairs, so I will be passing my break here in the dorms."

Shiraishi chewed thoughtfully on his lip for a while before making a smacking noise and clapping Reborn on the back.

"Nope! I've decided. You're coming home with me!"

Reborn's expression turned very blank. "What?"

"Yep! Well, I don't have… my parents passed away a while ago, so home is actually my sister's home… but she got permission for leave so she can take care of me for the week! So, come on! Get packed, and we'll leave together."

A troubled expression flitted across Reborn's face. "But… I don't want to intrude."

"Intrude? What's that?" Shiraishi said, grabbing his toothbrush from a shelf. "No such thing in the Shinji household, man. Get moving! Or I'm staying with you here. Do you not have a suitcase? You can use my spare."

"…why go so far for me?"

"What's that?" Shiraishi said from underneath the bed. "I know I left my books under here somewhere…"

"Why go so far for me?" Reborn said louder. "I… we're not…"

"Say one more word, and I'll smack you, man," Shiraishi warned as he emerged. "We're friends, and I'm taking you home, and you will enjoy it, and that is that. Now, pack up! We're leaving for the bus in 10 minutes!"

Reborn didn't have much to pack, so he was finished before Shiraishi fished his books out from underneath his bed. They set off for the bus stop. The ride to Shiraishi's house took only twenty minutes, and before Reborn knew it, they were standing in front of a modest, sky blue house.

"I'm home! Sis!" Shiraishi yelled as soon as he kicked open the door.

Something zoomed out from the hallway and knocked Shiraishi down before he could react. "Shiraishi, welcome home!"

A small girl and boy clung to Shiraishi's clothes as they greeted him. Laughing, he pushed them off and pointed to Reborn.

"Say hello. That's Reborn. Reborn, these are my nephews! Aren't they cute!"

"I'm Yamada Toru!" said the girl.

"A-bluh-bluh-bluh," the boy greeted.

"Y-Yeah…"

"They're about your age," Shiraishi said, ruffling their hair. "Toru's just turned six, and Haruto's one. Bouncy, aren't they? You should take them as your role models. C'mon let's go inside before Yuuko-nee-san gets mad."

Yamada Yuuko was in the kitchen, stormily stirring a pot of curry. "Took you long enough, Shiraishi. I thought you'd come in time to help me cook. Do you know how long it's taken? And who's that there? Neighborhood kid you picked up?"

"Nah," Shiraishi said. Suddenly, Reborn knew what Shiraishi was going to say, and he didn't like he.

"Reborn's a classmate."

"At University?"

"Yep."

Reborn instinctively cringed as Yuuko settled her eyes on him. He diverted his gaze, not wanting to see the judgment in her eyes. It was coming, he knew it. First, disbelief, then scorn, then maybe fear and rejection—

"Ah, welcome, then. Take a seat."

Stunned for a moment, Reborn looked up at her with a dumb expression on his face.

Shiraishi grabbed him by the arm and sat him down at the table as Yuuko brought out an extra plate for Reborn.

"How was it, huh?" Shiraishi said gleefully, nudging Reborn with an elbow. "She's cool, huh? Nee-san is so cool, right?"

An eyebrow raised, Reborn snorted. "Incestuous affair."

"_Wrong!"_

Reborn fixed his eyes on Yuuko while she ladled rice onto plates and topped it with enormous scoops of curry. Never before had he been treated so—normally? Cordially? After someone had found out about his excelled studies. Why couldn't people be more like Yamada Yuuko? Or, should he be asking, what made Yamada Yuuko so different from other people? Why was she so accepting of him? Why didn't she gape at him, make fun of him like every other person aside from Yamada he had met? Maybe it ran in the family.

Shiraishi was humming a silly tune with his siblings and playing a fail game of patty cake with the Haruto, who had barely developed motor skills.

"A-bluh-bluh-bluhhhh," Haruto said, and Shiraishi repeated it right back to him. "A-bluh-bluh-bluh?"

"No shame," Reborn snorted quietly. Shiraishi turned red.

"Y-You didn't see anything!"

_fun fun fun until the day came when it wasn't so fun anymore_

"Those sons of bitc—"

"Language," Reborn coughed. "Shiraishi."

"Shut it! Don't talk anymore!"

Frantically, Shiraishi banged on the door of the University infirmary as he held Reborn up by the arm. "Can you stand on your own? There's a window over there—if I can break it, I can get some stuff to wrap you up with."

"Don't bother. I'm fine."

"Fine, my ass—my butt!" Shiraishi snarled. "And this had to happen on the night when there's a power outage!"

He set Reborn gently against the wall, then turned to the small window. With a lash from his foot, the glass shattered and before Reborn could speak, Shiraishi dove headfirst into the room.

"You could just call the hospital, if you're so adamant," he said as Shiraishi crawled back over broken glass. "You're just injuring yourself."

"Hospitals will ask questions," Shiraishi said through clenched teeth. "And that bast—tofu head Jiyo's dad is part of Diet… there's no way he'll be punished for this. Besides, your wounds aren't too bad. Nothing I can't handle."

In silence, Reborn let Shiraishi wrap his wounds, recalling the events of that day. Being called out by Jiyo and his Yakuza friends—who was even friends with Yakuza anyways? Shiraishi having a goukon and not being there—what a loser, going to goukons in University. Being dragged to the woods, beaten, dropped in the river—how lame was that? Shiraishi hearing news from his room-mate, rushing over just in time to save Reborn. How he found him, Reborn could never guess—it was near midnight when they got to the infirmary using Shiraishi's pocket flashlight to navigate their way through the halls.

"Don't move, now, this might hurt. You have dislocated joints."

Reborn bit his lip so hard he started bleeding. Victorious, he emerged, no sound escaping his lips.

"Gotcha, there. Now then, to get you dried off… I'll take you to my dorm. Heave-ho!"

"Put me down, I can walk," Reborn said, struggling weakly.

"No way, princess. This is the chance of a lifetime for both you and me. When else are you going to be carried bridal-style?"

Footsteps echoing in the eerily empty hall, Shiraishi walked cautiously, the light from the flashlight bounced off the walls.

Maybe it was due to the fact that Reborn had hit his head a couple times during the entire ordeal, but he was thinking that Shiraishi looked pretty cool at that moment. One moment, Reborn was floating down the river with rain pelting down on his face in pitch darkness, thinking he would die; the next, Shiraishi was pulling him out—like a hero.

Hero, Reborn scoffed. He smiled.

Gratitude was one emotion Reborn felt. Indignation against Jiyo and his gang, another. And, perhaps, also admiration… Admiration for the sixteen-year-old currently hurtling towards the dorm-rooms as fast as he could—like a hero?

If only Reborn were bigger, stronger… then he'd be able to take care of himself. Shiraishi wouldn't have to go through all this trouble for him…

"Damn door, getting in the way," Shiraishi was grunting now. "Keys… where'd I leave them?"

There was a messy jingle as Shiraishi pulled out his keys. He put the flashlight in between his teeth and jammed the keys into the keyhole. The door opened. Reborn felt him stiffen.

"What the _hell_ are you doing in my room, Sotou Jiyo?"

_it wasn't fun anymore he wasn't strong enough if only he were stronger, bigger, older he could have saved him he could have protected him he could have could have no no stop stop please I'm sorry kill me instead kill me I don't deserve to exist after all stop stop_

In Shiraishi's pocket, he knew there was a cell phone. Disregarding the mess he was making—_red, red, so much red_—he pulled it out, almost dropping it due to the slickness of the liquid covering it.

"_119… police department, what's the problem?"_

Reborn's voice wasn't working. It wouldn't form the words. It wouldn't come out, just when he needed it the most. "…he…lp…"

"_I'm sorry?"_

"…dying…"

"_Where are you? What's the problem?"_

"Shiraishi… is dying. We're at X University, please… come quickly."

"_Please stay calm, we are sending help over immediately. Where exactly are you? Can you tell me which building and room?"_

_stop stop_

"Shiraishi! Oh, god, no! Shiraishi!"

Why did it have to be her that was on duty now? Fate and coincidence were too cruel.

"Shiraishi!"

"Calm down, Yuuko-san. We have to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

"I can't calm down—that's my brother there! That's my brother, dying!"

_Brother_.

Immense guilt ran through Reborn. The phone he'd been holding onto so tightly slipped out of his hands, clattering to the floor.

"What the—there's a kid here. He looks all beat up, too… damn, where are the ambulances? This looks bad. Quickly, administer first aid—stop the bleeding."

Yuuko lunged forward, grabbing Reborn's hands. "Reborn! God, are you alright? That aside, you know, don't you? You know who did this. Tell me who did this."

"Yamada Yuuko, calm down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down! Whoever did this—whoever did this—I'll kill them!"

"Can't… his father is part of the Diet…"

"Screw the Diet!" Yuuko snarled. Her grey hair slipped from behind her ears—_the same grey as Shiraishi's, same grey, but not red—_as she seemed to grapple with herself for calmness. She took a deep breath, and then her eyes were crackling with something white and fierce.

"Move aside, I'll take care of him."

"But—"

"I almost became a doctor; I'll know a lot more about this than you!" she snapped.

She worked efficiently and quickly, using the medical supplies provided to her and from the medical box Shiraishi had stolen earlier from the infirmary. Reborn only watched—_could only watch, so useless, useless_—as she worked on her brother until the medics came and took them both away.

_stop stop useless he was so useless he couldn't do anything because he was weak weak weak_

* * *

Finally escaping his dreams, Reborn was sitting upright on his bed, a glass of cool water held loosely in his hands. The moon had come out to play with his hair again, dancing off the walls as the clouds passed over it. He picked up his cellphone from his nightstand. It was 3:34 a.m., May 12. Too early to go back to sleep and expect to wake up at his normal time, but too late to go about doing anything productive.

With an imperceptible sigh, Reborn pulled his laptop close to him and opened it up. It was a little slow in getting started; he had left a program up. It was the video recorded by the store on the day of Yamada's murder.

For lack of something better to do, he played it again.

A high-school boy barreled into the store, laughing as water dripped off him in rivulets. Briefly, Reborn wondered if the boy shared the same laugh as his uncle had. Right behind him was a short figure, also grinning, folding up a tangled umbrella. Reborn paused the screen, studying their faces. More specifically, he took a close look at Yamada's face, trying to pick out, through the pixelated shot, expressions that belonged to Shiraishi.

Resolution too low, Reborn chided himself for hanging onto the past. If there was one thing that got him into uncharacteristic melancholy, it was having dreams about his long-dead friend. He shook his head; he pressed the play button.

A third man dressed in what looked like a white lab coat was loitering near the doors. Two women ran out, drawing their jackets over their heads. Yamada and Bermuda had gone deeper into the shop, later re-emerging within the surveillance camera's range with a pair of new umbrellas while Yamada offered Bermuda some coins, which Bermuda refused.

Bermuda was laughing now; Yamada was waving his umbrella around violently in a flustered fashion. The two of them left the store, Yamada first. He popped open his umbrella, and Reborn nearly spat out the water he had just taken into his mouth at the sight of it.

He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before. Bright pink and baby blue, decorated with small symbols he couldn't make out: it was undeniably the exclusive, sought-after item just released by the Bovino Toy Company. Of limited stock, whoever managed to lay their hands on the item always made a huge deal out of it. Apparently, only five such umbrellas had been released by the famous Bovino Company.

Bermuda laughed at Yamada again before they ran out, and Reborn was left looking at a black screen as the clip closed.

He pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number.

_"Hello__…"_

"Dino, I have a question to ask you."

_"What the__… Reborn__…? Do you know how early it is? I thought it was the headquarters and there had been an emergency__…"_

"Consider this your emergency, then."

_"__…what is it?"_

"At the crime scene of Yamada Haruto's death, did you find Bovino Toy Company's Ultra Lolly Sky Blinky Umbrella?"

* * *

_H-heheh… hello… long time no see…_

_Instead of an excuse, I shall go to the meat of the matter… and that is… THIS STORY IS TOO COMPLICATED. I did so much research on the Japanese police force TAT. And still, things will be wrong!_

_For those of you who don't know, Diet is like Japan's government. I am not an expert, so do not think you are getting an education on Japan's government from this story!_

_I was going to break this chapter up into two, but then I decided, aw heck! In the end… a monster chapter. Longest chapter I have ever written, ever. What is revealed… A part of Reborn's past! The rest will be in Chapter 10. Was it OK? I am so worried about my portrayal of Reborn in general. Thank you to those who have told me that I am doing OK with Reborn's character! But, if there is anything to improve, please tell me!_

_I really appreciate all the support! Thanks for reading :)_


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